-^^S^lTwJic?^ 


^^^OG/CAL  SEV^5^ 


BV  205  .P3  1920 

Paterson,  W.  P.  1860-1939, 

The  power  of  prayer 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK         BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO    OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


THE  POWER  OF 
PRAYER 

BEING  A  SELECTION  OF  WALKER 
TRUST  ESSAYS,  WITH  A  STUDY 
OF  THE  ESSAYS  AS  A  RELIGIOUS 
AND   THEOLOGICAL   DOCUMENT 


EDITED  BY  //  ^^^Olon,,.,,  .r 

The  Right  Rev.  W.  P.  PATERSON,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  DIVINITY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH 

AND 

DAVID  RUSSELL 

OF  THE  W^ALKKR  TRUST 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1920 

A.VL  rights  reserve^ 


Copyright,  1920, 
BT  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  printed.       Published,  August,  1920 


PREFACE 

The  Walker  Trust  of  the  University  of  St.  Andrews  in  May 
1916  issued  a  circular  in  the   following  terms:  — 

"  At  this  time  of  world-tragedy  the  significance  of  prayer 
in  daily  life  is  everywhere  becoming  more  widely  recognised, 
and  it  is  felt  that  the  time  may  have  come  for  gathering  to- 
gether a  record  of  the  thoughts  of  those  who  have  recognised 
its  meaning  and  power,  and  are  willing  to  share  their  expe- 
riences with  others.  With  this  end  in  view,  and  with  the  ob- 
ject of  publishing  what  may  seem  helpful,  the  Walker  Trustees 
invite  essays  on  — 

"Prayer:  The  meaning,  the  reality  and  the  power  of 
Prayer,  its  place  and  value  to  the  Individual,  to  the  Church, 
and  to  the  State,  in  the  everyday  affairs  of  life,  in  the  healing 
of  sickness  and  disease,  in  times  of  distress  and  national  dan- 
ger, and  in  relation  to  national  ideals  and  to  world-progress. 

"It  is  suggested  that  the  length  of  an  essay  be  from  4000 
to  6000  words,  but  no  word-limit  is  imposed.  Contributors 
may  write  in  any  language. 

"  A  prize  of  £100  is  offered  for  the  most  widely  helpful 
essay  —  open  to  any  one  in  any  part  of  the  world.  The 
Trustees  may,  at  their  discretion,  allot  additional  prizes." 

In  view  of  the  connection  of  the  Walker  Trust  with  St. 
Andrews,  special  prizes  were  offered  to  graduates  and  to  under- 
graduates of  St.  Andrews  University. 

In  response  to  the  invitation  1667  essays  were  received. 
They  came  from  every  quarter  of  the  glol^e ;  they  were  writ- 
ten in  nineteen  languages,  living  and  dead ;  ^  they  reflected 
widely  different  grades  of  intelligence,  culture  and  religious 
experience,  and  they  represented  every  standpoint  of  the  posi- 
tive religious  thought  of  the  higher  civilisations.  The  Chris- 
tian essays,  which  of  course  formed  the  large  majority,  bore 

1  The  following  is  the  list:  —  English  (1604),  French  (21),  Welsh  (8),  Tamil  (6), 
Norwegian  (5),  Danish  (4),  Italian  (3),  Sanskrit  (3),  Swedish  (2),  Hindustani  (2), 
Hebrew,  Latin,   Spanish,  Russian,  German,  Maratha,  Burmese,   Syriac,  Xosa   (i   each). 

V 


vi  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

witness  to  the  numerous  divisions  of  the  Christian  Church, 
and  also  to  the  variety  of  its  theological  schools.  The  eclecti- 
cism of  the  mind  of  the  modern  Western  world  was  also 
somewhat  prominently  in  evidence.  This  enormous  mass  of 
material  in  the  first  place  called  for  adjudication  in  terms  of 
the  competition,  but  it  also  possessed  a  significance  as  a  reve- 
lation of  contemporary  religion  which  merited  a  careful  analy- 
sis of  the  whole,  and  yielded  some  interesting  generalisations 
as  to  the  consensus  and  the  differences  of  modern  thinking 
upon  the  great  theme. 

The  task  of  adjudication  was  laborious,  and  necessarily  in- 
volved a  considerable  division  of  labour.  At  the  preliminary 
stage,  the  essays,  after  a  first  reading,  were  arranged  in  four 
classes  according  to  prinia  facie  impression  of  merit,  and  it 
was  comparatively  easy  to  relegate  721  to  the  fourth  division 
as  possessing  no  possible  claim  to  final  recognition,  although 
most  of  these  also  were  submitted  to  more  than  one  reader. 
At  the  next  stage  the  essays  of  the  two  higher  classes  were 
carefully  re-examined,  while  even  the  722  which  had  been 
assigned  to  the  third  class  were  again  sifted  in  order  to  avoid 
any  possible  injustice  due  to  individual  bias  or  to  failure  of 
judgment.  As  a  fact,  more  than  one  essay,  after  making  an 
unpromising  start,  found  its  way  to  the  very  front.  The  re- 
sult of  the  repeated  and  searching  scrutiny  was  that  22  essays 
emerged  as  having  obtained  the  necessary  amount  of  conver- 
gent support  from  readers  to  justify  their  being  treated  as 
"  the  short  leet."  The  further  step  was  then  taken  of  pro- 
curing from  new  quarters  a  reasoned  report  on  different 
types  of  the  preferred  essays,  and  on  the  comparative  merits 
of  the  examples  of  these  different  types.  Full  weight  was, 
of  course,  given  to  the  usual  criteria  of  intellectual  ability, 
learning,  critical  acumen,  apologetic  power,  arrangement  of 
the  material,  and  literary  skill.  It  was,  however,  in  the  mind 
of  the  critics  at  the  different  stages  that  stress  had  been  laid 
on  the  quality  of  "  helpfulness,"  and  it  may  be  admitted  that 
some  brilliant  essays,  owing  to  defect  in  the  matter  of  edifying 
quality,  failed  to  obtain  the  recognition  which  was  their  due 
on  the  merely  intellectual  side.  It  ought  to  be  added  that  the 
collaborative  criticism  was  carried  out  in  a  broad-minded  and 
equitable  spirit.  The  identity  of  the  contributors  was  dis- 
closed only  when  the  order  of  merit  had  been  settled.  After 
taking  a  conjunct  view  of  the  testimony,  the  court  of  last 
instance  finally  made  the  following  awards:  — 


PREFACE  vii 

OPEN  COMPETITION 

Pri:;e  of  £  1 00 :  — 

The  Rev.  Samuel  McComb,  DD.,  Canon  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  U.S.A. 

Additional  Prises  of  £20 :  — 

William  Loftus  Hare,  Director  of  Studies  in  Comparative  Re- 
ligion and  Philosophy  to  the  Theosophical  Society,  London. 

The  Rev.  Edward  J.  Hawkins,  Minister  of  Southernhay  Con- 
gregational Church,  Exeter. 

The  Rev.  S.  H.  Mkli.one,  M.A.,  D.Sc,  Principal  of  the  Unitarian 
Home  Missionary  College,  Manchester. 

The  late  Rev.  Alexander  Forijes  Phillips,  Vicar  and  Rector,  St. 
Andrew's  Parish  Church,  Gorleston,  Suffolk;  Officiating  Chap- 
lain, Royal  Naval  Base. 

The  following  authors  of  representative  essays  were  also 
adjudged  to  be  worthy  of  honourable  mention :  — 

Charles  Auguste  Bourquin,  Pasteur,  St.  Cergues  s/Nyon,  Vaud, 

Switzerland. 
Manilal  Maneklal  N.  Mehta,  M.A.,  B.Sc,  LL.B.,  Professor  of 

Physics,  Bahauddin  College,  Junagadh,  Kathiawar,  India. 
Pandit  Bishan  Dass,  B.A.,  Government  High  School,  Hoshiarpur, 

Punjab,   India. 
S.  G.  Abraham.  Missioner,  Tinnevelly  Children's  Mission,  Palam- 

cottah.  South  India. 

STUDENTS'  PRIZE 

Price   of  £20  divided  between :  — 
John  T.   Boag,   Dunfermline. 
C.  C.  Bruce  Marshall,  St.  Andrew:. 

In  the  selection  of  the  essays  included  in  this  volume  there 
have  been  some  departure  from  the  principles  that  were  fol- 
lowed in  the  endeavour  to  fix  upon  the  five  most  meritorious 
essays.  The  five  are,  of  course,  included,  and  are  given  places 
of  honour,  but  some  of  those  selected  are  inferior,  either  in  an 
intellectual  or  in  a  spiritual  point  of  view,  to  essays  which 
reached  the  high  standard  of  general  excellence  represented  by 
the  first  class.  The  choice  of  the  additional  essays  was  made 
to  some  extent  with  a  view  to  producing  a  volume  which  should 
throw  light  upon  the  life  and  thought  of  the  whole  religious 
world  of  to-day,  including  the  regions  of  ethnic  and  eclectic 
faith  as  well  as  the  various  sections  of  the  Christian  Church. 
It  has  been  thought  better  to  give  the  book  a  representative 
character,  even  if  as  a  consequence  disproportionate  space  has 
been  allowed  to  the  more  novel  or  unusual  types  of  thought, 


viii  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  if  also  the  variety  of  the  message  has  entailed  some  sacri- 
fice of  sustained  and  convincing  impressiveness.  In  the  open- 
ing chapter  an  attempt  has  been  made,  with  the  help  of  tables 
compiled  by  Mr.  Russell,  to  utilise  the  essays  as  a  source  of 
information  in  regard  to  the  religious  consciousness  and  life  • 
of  the  contemporary  world.  Grateful  acknowledgement  is 
due  to  all  those  who  so  willingly  helped  in  the  reading  of  the 
essays  and  in  the  compilation  of  statistics,  particularly  to  Miss 
G.  Hilda  Pagan,  Miss  A.  Thomson,  and  Mr.  Fred.  Rothwell. 
Valuable  assistance  was  given  in  the  correction  of  the  proofs, 
in  the  preparation  of  the  Bibliography  (in  which  connection 
the  Rev.  Canon  Perry  is  to  be  warmly  thanked),  and  in  seeing 
the  volume  through  the  press  by  the  Rev.  Frederic  Relton. 

It  is  fitting  that  a  few  particulars  should  be  given  about  the 
man  whose  name  is  commemorated,  and  whose  ministry  is 
being  perpetuated,  by  the  Walker  Trust.  In  a  rural  church- 
yard in  the  County  of  Forfar  there  is  a  tombstone  bearing  the 
inscription : 

"  In  memory  of  the  Rev.  George  Walker,  D.D., 
Minister  of  Kinnell,  who  died  nth  September, 
1868,  in  the  86th  year  of  his  age,  and  the  S5th  year 
of  his  ministry." 

George  Walker  represented  the  best  traditions  —  intellectual, 
philanthropic,  and  spiritual  —  of  the  ministry  of  the  Scottish 
Church.  "  He  was  an  eminent  classical  scholar,"  it  is  re- 
corded in  Scott's  Fasti,  "  well-versed  in  historic  lore,  and  he 
contemplated  publishing  an  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scot- 
land." To  the  close  of  his  prolonged  ministry  he  devoted 
himself  with  unflagging  zeal  to  the  interests  of  his  flock  on 
the  Muirside  of  Kinnell  —  a  community  of  some  800  crofters 
and  hand-loom  weavers  with  their  dependents.  The  relief  of 
the  poor  was  attended  to  with  the  most  sympathetic  and  dis- 
criminating care.  In  the  matter  of  education  he  was  a  zealot. 
The  School  Board  system  was  not  yet  in  existence,  but  the 
parish  had  two  schools  of  which  he  acted  as  Inspector,  and  he 
saw  to  it  that  due  provision  was  made  of  the  higher  instruc- 
tion that  would  carry  a  promising  boy  to  the  threshold  of  a 
Scottish  University.  "  His  large-hearted  sympathy  with  his 
people,"  it  is  recorded,  "  in  all  their  difficulties,  their  sorrows, 
and  their  joys  continued  to  the  very  day  of  his  last  illness." 
But  especially,  to  use  the  language  of  the  Apostle,  "  God  is 


PREFACE  ix 

his  record  how  greatly  he  longed  after  them  all  in  the  bowels 
of  Christ  Jesus."  The  ecclesiastical  chronicle  departs  from 
its  customary  strain  of  dry  and  bald  facts  to  testify  that  he  was 
a  man  of  devout  soul,  and  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Him  Who 
came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister.  He  was  of 
the  Evangelical  school  —  proclaiming  as  the  staple  of  his 
message  the  doctrines  of  Ruin,  Redemption,  and  Regenera- 
tion; and  he  had  proof  of  the  power  of  his  gospel  as  a  means 
of  convincing  and  converting  sinners,  and  of  leavening  the 
life  of  families  with  the  fear  of  God.  His  successor  found 
that  he  lived  in  the  recollccti(~»n  of  the  older  generation  as  a 
veritable  man  of  God,  and  that  his  name  was  always  mentioned 
with  a  certain  hushed  reverence.  "  His  love  for  the  church  of 
his  fathers,''  we  read.  "  was  so  unbounded :  to  many  a  strug- 
gling chapel-congregation  in  the  province  he  stretched  out  a 
helping  hand,  and  assisted  it  to  rise  to  the  secure  status  of 
a  Parish  Church."  He  was  not  indifferent,  like  many  of  the 
Evangelicals  of  the  period,  to  tfie  externals  of  worship ;  and 
"  completed  to  his  own  satisfaction  a  holy  and  beautiful  house 
for  public  worship."  Much  of  his  time  was  given  to  private 
prayer,  and  he  regarded  it  as  an  all-important  part  of  the  min- 
isterial function  to  foster  the  devotional  life  among  his  people. 
To  this  end  he  published  three  books : 

Hymns  translated  and  imitated  from  the  German,     i860. 
Prayers  and  hymns  for  the  mornings  and  evenings  of  the 

week.     1862. 
Prayers  and  hymns.     1866. 

The  prayers,  which  are  designed  for  use  both  in  family 
worship  and  in  private  devotions,  are  the  outpourings  of  a 
soul  which  lived  under  a  deeply  realising  sense  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  life  of  the  world  to  come; 
and  while  unequal  in  literary  form,  they  have  striking  turns 
of  expression  which  are  derived,  sometimes  from  the  inspira- 
tion of  individual  experience,  sometimes  from  the  prayers 
handed  on  by  oral  tradition  in  the  Scottish  pulpit.  The  hymns 
include  paraphrases  of  narrative  and  doctrinal  passages  of 
Scripture,  metrical  versions  of  the  Decalogue  and  the  Creed, 
and  versified  prayers  suited  to  almost  every'  situation  of  duty, 
temptation,  and  trial  that  emerges  in  human  and  in  Christian 
experience.  The  poetical  merit  of  the  composition  is  not  great, 
and  none  of  the  pieces  have  become  popular;  but  they  at  least 


X  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

anticipated  the  need  of  the  Scottish  Church  which  has  since 
been  met  by  the  compilation  of  a  series  of  hymnals,  and  in 
Kinnell  they  were  in  their  time  a  real  means  of  grace,  leading 
many  to  sing  and  make  melody  in  their  hearts  to  the  Lord. 

Even  if  the  name  of  George  Walker  were  no  more  than  the 
fading  memory  in  an  obscure  parish,  it  might  be  taken  as  cer- 
tain that  the  seeds  which  he  sowed  will  continue  to  bear  fruit 
for  generations  in  Scottish  characters  and  lives.  The  per- 
manence of  our  actions,  so  solemnly  affirmed  by  Robertson  of 
Brighton,  has  one  of  its  surest  and  most  consoling  illustrations 
in  the  after-effects  of  the  labours  of  a  Christlike  minister. 
His  influence  has  been  carried  into  far  wider  circles  by  the 
act  of  the  Walker  Trustees,  who,  in  his  name  and  with  singu- 
lar appropriateness,  addressed  to  our  generation  the  ques- 
tion:— "  W^hat  think  ye  of  prayer?"  In  view  of  the 
multitude  of  minds  which  that  question  moved  to  thinking, 
or  to  clearer  thinking,  on  spiritual  realities,  and  of  the  extraor- 
dinary response  from  every  province  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
humanity,  it  may  now  be  said  of' that  humble  ministry  in 
Kinnell  that 


Its  echoes  roll  from  soul  to  soul 
And  grow  for  ever  and  for  ever. 


w.  p.  p. 


CONTENTS 

I.  PRAYER  AND  THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND — 
THE  WALKER  ESSAYS  AS  A  RELIGIOUS  AND 
THEOLOGICAL  DOCUMENT  p^o« 

By  The  Right  Rev.  W.  P.  Paterson,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Di- 
vinity in  the  University  ^f  Edinburgh I 

II.     PR.\YER  —  ITS  MEANING,  REALITY  AND 

POWER 

By  The  Rev.  Samuel  McComb,  D.D.,  Canon  of  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Baltimore,  Maryland,, and  Author  of  "The  Fu- 
ture Life  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Inquiry"  etc.  ...     39 

III.     PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE 

By  The  Rev.  S.  H.  Mellone,  D.Sc,  Principal  of  the  Uni- 
tarian Home  Missionary  College,  Manchester,  and  Lec- 
turer on  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Manchester    .     "Ji 

IV.     THE  SCOPE  AND  THE  LIMITATIONS  OF 

PRAYER 

By  The  Rev.  Edward  J.  Hawkins,  Minister  of  Southernhay 

Congregational  Church,  ^Exeter      .......    107 

V.     A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  ON  PRAYER^ 

By  The  late  Rev.  Alexander  Forbes  Phillips,  Vicar  and 
Rector,  St.  Andrew's  Parish  Church,  Gorleston,  Suffolk, 
and  Officiating  Chaplain,  Royal  Naval  Base  .      .      .      .    125 

VI.     A  MODERN  APOLOGY 

(TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH) 

By    Charles   Auguste    Bourquin,   Pasteur,   St.    Cergues 

s/Nyon,  Vaud,  Szvitserland 151 


xii  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


PAQX 


VII.     THE  GREATER  VENTURES  OE  PRAYER 
By  ].   L.   E i8i 

VIII.  UNDER  THE  GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH 

By  The  Rev.  Jeremiah  P.  Murphy,  Chembusco,  New  York 

State,   U.  S.  A 201 

IX.  FROM  THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF 

VIEW 

By  Edward  Lawrence,  F.R.A.I.,  Westcliff -on-Sea  .      .      .  221 

X.     THE  MEETING-PLACE  OF  SCIENCE  AND 

MYSTICISM 

By  Sydney  T.  Klein,  F.L.S.,  F.R.A.S.,  M.R.I.,  Reigate     .  241 

XL     THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY 

By  The  Rev.  W.  Arthur  Cornaby,   Wesley  an  Methodist 

Mission,  Hankow,  China 263 

XII.  PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  SPIRITUAL 

LAW  AND  ABSOLUTE  REALITY 

By  Charles  Herman  Lea,  North-wood 279 

XIII.  FROM  THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  AN 

EVANGELIST 

By  Charles  Mason,  Battersea,  London 299 

XIV.     PREVAILING  PRAYER  — A  MESSAGE  FROM 

KESWICK 

By  E.  Kennedy,  Edinburgh 313 

XV.     NEW  THOUGHT  FROM  SOUTH  AFRICA 
By  E.  Douglas  Tayler,  Grahamstown,  South  Africa     .     .  323 


CONTENTS  xiii 

XVI.     A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER 

By  Dr.  J.  E.  Esslemont,  The  Home  Sanatormm,  Bourne- 
mouth    351 

XVII.  AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  OF  PRAYER 

By  Manil.\l  Maneklal  N.  Meuta,  M.A.,  B.Sc,  LL.B., 
Professor  of  Physics,  Bahauddin  College,  Junagadh, 
Kathiawar,  India 365 

XVIII.  PRAYER  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  DIVINE 

IMMANENCE 

By  Pandit  Bishan  Dass,  B.A.,  Government  High  School, 

Hoshiarpur,  India 381 

XIX.     THE  CLAIM  OF  RIGHT  THINKING 

By  F.  L.  Rawson,  M.I.E.E.,  A.M.I.C.E.,  London     .     .      .  403 

XX.     RULES  AND  METHODS  —  CHAPTERS  IN 
THE  HISTORY  OF  P,RAYER 

By  William  Loftus  Hare,  Director  of  Studies  in  Compara- 
tive Religion  and  Philosophy  to  the  Theosophical  So- 
ciety, London 423 

XXI.     IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS 
By  David  Russell  of  the  Walker  Trust 459 

XXII.     BIBLIOGRAPHY 
By  The  Rev.  W.  C.  Eraser,  Edinburgh 473 

INDEX  OF  TEXTS 493 

INDEX  AND  BRIEF  GLOSSARY 

By  The  Rev.  Frederic  Relton,  Fellozv  of  King's  College, 
University  of  London,  and  Vicar  of  St.  Peter's,  Great 
Windmill  Street,  Piccadilly  Circus 497 


PRAYER  AND  THE  CONTEMPORARY 

MIND 

THE  WALKER  ESSAYS  AS  A  RELIGIOUS  AND 
THEOLOGICAL  DOCUMENT 

RY 

The  Right  Rev.  W.  P.  PATERSON,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR    OF    DIVINITY    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    EDINBURGH 


I 

PRAYER  AND  THE  CONTEMPORARY 

MIND 

Those  who  took  part  in  the  reading  and  adjudication  of  the 
essays  contributed  under  the  Walker  Trust  Scheme  gained  the 
impression  that  the  enormous  mass  of  material  ehcited  had 
significance  and  vahie  in  many  points  of  view.  Looked  at 
broadly,  the  papers  might  be  regarded  as  the  rq:)lies  of  1667 
people  to  a  somewhat  elastic  questionnaire,  which  constituted 
a  revelation  of  the  place  of  prayer  in  contemporary  religious 
life,  and  of  the  thoughts  concerning  prayer  which  fill  the  con- 
temporary religious  mind.  It  therefore  seemed  to  be  desirable 
to  undertake  a  careful  analysis  of  the  whole  —  with  a  view, 
in  the  first  place,  to  throw  light  on  the  spiritual  environment 
and  the  general  standpoint  of  the  essays,  and,  in  the  second 
place,  to  give  an  impression  as  to  the  consensus  and  the  differ- 
ences of  the  thinking  on  the  special  and  proper  theme  of  prayer. 

I.  General  Classification  and  Analysis 

The  fundamental  principles  of  classification  were  four.  The 
first  task  was  to  group  the  essays  according  to  the  country  of 
origin.  The  second  was  to  group  them  according  to  the  sex 
and  the  vocation  of  the  writers.  Next  they  were  classified 
according  to  religions,  and  sub-divided  so  far  as  they  could 
be  connected  with  the  various  branches  of  the  Christian  Church, 
or  with  organised  societies  which  propagate  some  distinctive 
religious  or  semi-religious  creed.  An  attempt  was  further 
made  to  classify  the  essays  in  accordance  with  their  general 
type  of  doctrine.  This  classification,  according  to  the  type  of 
thought,  obviously  coincides  to  some  extent  with  the  classifica- 
tion according  to  religions,  churches,  and  societies  —  notably 
is  this  the  case  with  the  contributions  from  non-Christian  re- 
ligions and  from  Western  propagandist  organisations ;  but  it 
was  found  that  the  character  of  the  Christian  essays  was  by  no 
means  invariably  pre-determined  by  the  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tion which  could  be  established  for  the  writers.     The  results  of 

3 


4  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  preliminary  analysis  are  given  in  the  first  four  of  the  fol- 
lowing tables.  In  the  fifth  table  the  contribution  of  the  sexes 
and  of  the  vocations  in  the  different  countries  is  comparatively 
exhibited.  In  addition,  it  promised  to  be  instructive  to  in- 
vestigate the  proportions  in  which  the  different  countries  were 
influenced  by  the  religions,  churches,  and  societies  referred  to, 
and  also  to  ascertain  the  proportions  in  which  the  countries 
furnished  essays  of  the  dift'erent  types  of  thought.  This  com- 
parative view  is  given  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  tables.  In  the 
eighth  table  the  countries  of  origin  are  left  out  of  view,  and 
some  light  is  thrown  on  the  extent  to  which  the  different  types 
Christian  religion  and  of  the  particular  churches,  and  also  of 
of  doctrine  are  prevalent  within  the  sphere  of  influence  of  the 
the  other  religious  and  semi-religious  organisations. 

TABLE  I 
Classification   according  to   Country  of  Origin 

Total.  Percentage. 

1.  England     978  58.67 

2.  Scotland    155  9.30 

3.  Wales     26  1.56 

4.  Ireland     39  2.34 

5.  Canada    20  1.20 

6.  Australasia  93  5-58 

7.  Other   British  Dominions 53  3i8 

8.  United  States  of  America 192  11.51 

9.  France     19  1.14 

10.  Switzerland    10  .60 

11.  Other    European    Countries 14  .84 

12.  Eastern  Countries,  especially  India 51  3.06 

13.  Anonymous    17  1.02 

1667  100.00 

Of  the  essays  over  58  per  cent,  were  of  English,  over  9 
per  cent,  of  Scottish  origin.  The  number  of  the  Scottish  es- 
says was  only  slightly  larger  than  the  English  in  proportion  to 
the  population.  A  greater  preponderance  might  have  been 
looked  for,  especially  as  the  theme  was  specially  commended  to 
the  Scottish  mind  by  the  religious  and  theological  tradition  of 
the  country.  It  is  also  noteworthy  that  Wales,  notwithstand- 
ing its  intense  religious  life,  only  furnished  one  essay  to  Eng- 
land's two  in  proportion  to  population.  Among  the  British 
possessions,  Australia  and  New  Zealand  made  an  exceptionally 
large  contribution,  the  character  of  which  reflected  the  close- 
ness of  their  connection  with  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  life 
of  the  mother-country.     The  mental  and  religious  vitality  of 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  5 

the  United  States  was  represented  both  in  the  amount  and  in 
the  nature  of  its  response.  The  circumstances  of  the  time 
were  reflected  in  the  meaj^re  contribution  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  which  was  practically  confined  to  its  Scandinavian  out- 
posts. A  careful  "  reader  "  was  impressed  with  special  qual- 
ities of  essays  from  the  Latin  countries  —  as  clarity,  precision, 
and  logical  rii;our,  as  well  as  the  literary  instinct  of  style. 
Eastern  countries,  it  should  be  added,  included  essays  by  mis- 
sionaries as  well  as  by  representatives  of  Oriental  religions. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Oriental  influence  was  to  some  extent 
in  evidence  in  Western  lands  in  the  theosophic  type  of  thought. 

TABLE  II 

Classification  according  to  Sex  and  Vocation  of  the 

Essayists. 

A.  Sex  — 

Men    780 

Women    870 

Anonymous    17 

■ 1667 

B.  Vocation  — 

Men  — 

Clergy    197 

Lavmen    583 

780 

Women  — 

Medical  Service    34 

Religious  Vocation    7 

Ordinary  Callings    829 

870 

Anonymous    17 

1667 

The  women  essayists  outnumbered  the  men,  but  only  in  the 
proportion  of  about  8  to  7.  The  figures  are  evidence  that  the 
masculine  mind  has  not,  as  is  sometimes  suggested,  lapsed  into 
religious  indifference  in  the  scientific  atmosphere  of  the  modern 
world,  but  is  on  the  whole  as  actively  and  earnestly  occupied 
as  is  the  mind  of  woman  wath  the  problems  of  Christian  faith 
and  experience.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  observation  that  the 
contribution  of  laymen  is  surprisingly  large  in  comparison  with 
that  of  the  clergy.  Probably  most  people  would  have  expected 
at  least  one-half  of  the  men  contributors  to  be  ministers,  as 
their  training  and  the  permanent  interests  of  their  calling  make 
the  subject  a  familiar  one,  but  as  a  fact  they  were  outnumbered 
by  the  laymen  by  nearly  3  to  i ,  and  they  formed  less  than  one- 
eighth  of  the  whole  contributors.     The  result  is  welcome  as 


6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

showing  how  far  reHgion  is  from  being  regarded  as  the  mo- 
nopoly of  a  learned  profession.  Among  the  laymen  the  army 
is  well  represented,  its  spokesmen  including  5  officers  and  12 
privates.  About  half-a-dozen  doctors  are  included  in  the  list, 
and  several  professors  of  philosophy.  The  clerical  contribu- 
tions, it  need  hardly  be  added,  were  for  the  most  part  on  a  high 
level.  Among  the  writers  were  3  bishops,  a  few  deans  and 
canons,  and  several  pr-ofessors  of  divinity.  Many  of  the  essays 
by  women  reached  a  high  standard.  Of  the  22  which  were 
placed  on  the  "  short  leet  "  without  any  knowledge  of  author- 
ship, 7  were  found,  after  the  final  adjudication,  to  have  been 
written  by  women.  One  was  very  high  in  the  class  of  proxime 
accesserimt. 

TABLE  III 

Classification  according  to  Religions,  Churches, 
AND  other  Organisations 

Total.     Percentage. 

A.  Christian  — 

I.Anglican    142  9-54 

2.  Roman   Catholic    48  3-22 

3.  Presbyterian     and     other     Protestant 

Churches     48  3-22 

4.  Salvation   Army 3  -20 

5.  Undenominational     (without    evidence 

as  to  ecclesiastical  origin) 1248  83.82 

1489        100.00 

B.  Predominantly  Christian  or  Eclectic  — 

6.  Swedenborgian    i  .61 

7.  Spiritualistic     i  .61 

8.  Christian  Science 31  18.90 

9.  New  Thought   19  ii-S9 

ID.  Unclassified    112  68.29 

164        100.00 

C.  Non-Christian  — 

11.  Oriental  (esp.  Indian)    12  85.72 

12.  Mohammedan i  7-14 

13.  Jewish    I  7.14 

14        100.00 

1667 
The  percentage  in  Group  A  was  89. .■?2,  in  B  9.84,  in  C  .84. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  essays,  including  not  a  few  of  the  un- 
classified papers  of  the  eclectic  group,  were  of  course  written 
by  persons  with  Christian  convictions.  The  great  majority  of 
the  writers,  moreover,  were  undoubtedly  members  of  some 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  7 

branch  of  the  Christian  Church.  But  the  outstanding  feature 
of  the  table  is  that  the  main  body  of  this  Christian  thinking 
showed  itself  independent  of  specific  ecclesiastical  influences, 
and  operated  with  the  material  which  is  often  somewhat  in- 
credulously, if  not  disparagingly,  referred  to  as  our  common 
Christianity.  This  fact  is  partly  explained,  no  doubt,  by  the 
circumstance  that  the  theme  of  prayer  lies  somewhat  remote 
from  the  questions  of  ecclesiastical  constitution  which  underlie 
the  main  divisions  of  Christendom,  but  as  those  divisions  are 
also  bound  up  with  diverse  attitudes  towards  religious  au- 
thority, it  might  have  been  expected  that  the  ecclesiastical  con- 
nection would  have  been  normally  disclosed,  instead  of  excep- 
tionally, in  the  detailed  treatment.  As  might  have  been  an- 
ticipated, it  has  been  difficult  to  detect  the  denominational  note 
in  writers  belonging  to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  con- 
tribution from  this  communion  was  doubtless  much  larger  than 
appears  from  the  table.  It  may  be  added  that  it  was  difficult 
to  find  a  comprehensive  title  for  the  non-Anglican  Churches  — 
the  title  Nonconformist,  which  the  Englishman  naturally  uses, 
being  inappropriate  in  Scotland  and  absurd  in  America.  The 
essays  from  the  sphere  of  the  non-Christian  religions  were 
marked  by*a  tolerant  as  well  as  by  a  reverent  spirit.  Owing 
to  the  conditions  of  the  competition,  it  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  there  would  be  any  considerable  response  from  the  scepti- 
cism of  the  age,  and  it  would  be  fallacious  to  found  on  the 
essays  an  estimate  of  the  strength  of  contemporary  unbelief. 
The  eclectic  group  bears  witness  to  the  vitality  of  the  Christian 
Science  movement,  and  also  to  the  extensive  leavening  of  the 
modern  mind  by  ideas,  ancient  and  modern,  which  some  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  systematise  in  "  New  Thought  "  and 
Theosophy. 

TABLE  IV 
Classification  according  to  Types  of  Thought 

Total.  Percentage. 

1.  Formal    167  960 

2.  Evangelical    1168  67.13 

3.  Mystical    28  1.61 

4.  Tlieosophic    10  .57 

5.  Philosophical    81  4.66 

6.  Scientific    iS  1.03 

7.  Unclassified    268  15.40 

1740        100.00 
Less  inclusions  in  two  or  more  classes  7i 

1667 


8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

The  sub-divisions  of  the  above  table  may  not  seem  to  all  to 
be  wholly  satisfactory,  and  certain  alternative  or  additional 
categories  might  have  been  suggested  as  more  precise  and 
searching.  As  the  second  table  is  chiefly  concerned  with 
Churches,  the  third  table  might  have  been  more  fully  utilised  to 
bring  out  more  clearly  the  extent  of  the  prevalence  of  the  dif- 
ferent types  of  theology  in  these  Churches,  and  perhaps  also  the 
comparative  frequency  of  what  may  be  called  the  theocentric 
and  the  Christocentric  forms  of  religious  experience.  Still 
more  relevantly,  an  analysis  might  have  been  made  to  throw 
more  light  upon  the  extent  of  the  differences  of  opinion  as  to 
the  principal  subjects  dealt  with  in  our  next  section,  viz.,  the 
nature  of  the  blessings  to  be  sought  in  prayer  and  the  mode 
of  the  Divine  working  in  answering  prayer.  The  table  was, 
however,  supplemented  by  the  construction  of  a  full  index  of 
particular  topics;  and  the  accepted  scheme  will  be  received  as 
in  the  main  natural  and  comprehensive.  As  it  stands  it  yields 
some  interesting  results.  The  essays  classed  as  "  formal " 
were  evidently  of  two  kinds  —  those  whose  method  of  treat- 
ment was  governed  by  ecclesiastical  authority  and  custom,  and 
those  which  were  somewhat  deficient  in  the  warmth  of  feeling 
and  the  strength  of  testimony  which  are  the  fruits  of  intense 
personal  conviction.  To  this  class  accordingly  were  assigned 
not  only  those  essays  which  might  be  depreciated  as  conven- 
tional but  also  those  which  would  be  popularly  described  as 
High  Church.  The  term  "  evangelical  "  was  employed  in  a 
somewhat  wide  sense,  and  was  attached  to  all  essays  of  a 
spiritual  tone  which,  on  the  one  hand,  had  not  the  obvious 
marks  of  a  High  Church  theology,  and  which,  on  the  other, 
in  contradistinction  to  theological  rationalism,  gave  promi- 
nence to  the  supernatural  doctrines  of  historic  Christianity,  es- 
pecially to  the  Divinity  and  the  mediatorial  work  of  Christ. 
The  fact  that  over  two-thirds  of  the  essays  impressed  the 
"  readers  "  as  evangelical  and  not  as  churchly  or  philosophical, 
is  in  contradiction  to  the  sedulously  spread  report  that  during 
the  last  generation  evangelicalism  has  been  a  waning  if  not  an 
exhausted  force,  and  it  also  justifies  a  protest  against  the  fre- 
quent claim  that  it  is  in  Catholicism  rather  than  in  Evangelical- 
ism that  the  atmosphere  of  prayer  is  most  widely  diffused. 
The  essays  of  the  philosophical  class,  of  which  thirty  were 
predominantly  psychological,  are  partly,  but  by  no  means  ex- 
clusively, examples  of  a  rationalistic  theology:  in  many  cases 
the  doctrine  is  orthodox  and  evangelical,  and  the  philosophical 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND 


material  merely  serves  for  illustration  and  defence.  The  es- 
says described  as  scientilic  could  also  be  sub-divided  as  rational- 
istic and  apologetic.  The  extreme  of  doctrinal  divergence  was 
reached  in  nine  pantheistic  essays  which  were  relegated  to  the 
large  unclassified  group.  Naturalism  and  Agnosticism,  as 
already  indicated,  were  not  encouraged  by  the  conditions  of 
the  contestation,  and  had  no  declared,  or  at  least  no  aggressive, 
spokesman. 

TABLE  V 

Showing  the  Proportion  of  Sex  and  Vocations  in  Relation 
TO  the  Countries  of  Origin 


Total. 


1.  England    

2.  Scotland   

3.  Wales    

4.  Ireland    

5.  Canada    

6.  Australasia    

7.  Other  British  Dominions   . 

8.  United  States  of  America 

9.  France    

10.  Switzerland    

11.  Other  European  Countries 

12.  Eastern  Countries  

Anonymous    


Women. 

Laj-men. 

Clergy. 

533 

333 

112 

67 

48 

40 

14 

7 

5 

20 

12 

7 

II 

6 

3 

48 

34 

II 

23 

27 

3 

127 

61 

4 

9 

9 

I 

3 

2 

5 

6 

6 

2 

9 
870 

38 

583 

4 

197 

978 

15s 
26 

39 
20 

93 

53 
192 

19 
10 

14 
51 


1650 
17 

1667 


The  proportions  of  the  contributions  from  men  and  women 
are  not  uniform  in  different  lands.  Leaving  out  of  account 
the  Eastern  Countries,  we  find  that  Scotland  reverses  the  rule 
of  the  preponderance  of  women-essayists  with  a  masculine 
contribution  of  88  out  of  a  total  of  155,  or  57  per  cent.,  while 
in  the  United  States  it  was  only  65  out  of  192,  or  a  little  more 
than  33  per  cent.  The  Scottish  group  is  also  remarkable  for 
a  large  percentage  of  essays  from  the  pen  of  ministers.  While 
of  the  65  essays  from  the  United  States  written  by  men  only 
4  were  by  ministers,  Scottish  ministers  wrote  40  out  of  the  88 
identified  as  the  composition  of  Scotsmen.  The  clerical  con- 
tribution from  England  was  little  more  than  half  of  the 
Scottish  in  proportion  to  the  total  contributed  by  that  countr}^ 

The  outstanding  feature  of  this  table  is  the  marked  pre- 
ponderance in  Great  Britain  of  the  undenominational  type  of 
Christian  thinking  as  distinguished  from  a  definitely  ecclesi- 


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THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


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THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  ii 

astical  type.  Notwithstanding^  the  primacy  of  the  Church  of 
England,  which  lays  marked  emphasis  on  the  spiritual  authority 
of  the  Church,  only  one  out  of  eight  was  identifiable,  even  with 
some  help  from  external  evidence,  as  an  x\nglican  essay.  In 
Scotland  a  larger  proportion  could  be  connected  with  a  branch 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  in  this  case  the  evidence  was 
chiefly  external.  The  religious  thinking  of  Ulster  Presby- 
terianism  is  probably  responsible  for  most  of  the  Irish  essays 
which  have  been  labelled  undenominational.  The  Roman 
Catholic  contribution  from  Ireland  is  surprisingly  small  as 
compared  with  that  from  England,  and  suggests  that  in  Eng- 
land members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  while  a  much 
smaller  section  of  the  whole  than  in  Ireland,  are  better  qualified 
for,  or  at  least  more  disposed  to,  literary  effort.  In  Australia 
and  New  Zealand,  although  the  Anglican  and  Roman  Catholic 
Churches  have  the  largest  membership,  the  class  without  ecclesi- 
astical colour  was  overwhelmingly  predominant.  The  French 
essays,  with  one  exception,  were  ecclesiastically  nondescript. 
In  the  United  States,  the  Church  connection  of  the  writers 
was  even  less  in  evidence  than  in  Great  Britain.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  American  essays  bore  strong  testimony  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Christian  Science  movement:  while  only  12  revealed 
their  ecclesiastical  affinities,  no  less  than  16  operated  with  the 
ideas  and  the  materials  of  Christian  Science.  Spiritualism, 
though  also  w^ell  organised  in  America,  chiefly  made  itself  felt 
as  a  leavening  influence,  and  did  not  supply  the  governing 
point  of  view  of  any  group  of  essays.  That  these  movements 
have  been  widely  felt  to  be  a  challenge  to  the  Churches  is  con- 
firmed by  the  announcement  that  one  of  the  items  in  the  pro- 
gramme of  next  year's  Lambeth  Conference  will  be  "  The 
Christian  Faith  in  relation  to  (a)  Spiritualism,  (b)  Christian 
Science,  (c)  Theosophy." 

The  great  preponderance  of  "  evangelical  "  essays  shown  in 
a  view  of  the  whole  statistics  was  maintained  in  the  figures  of 
each  country,  with  a  tendency  to  diminish  in  the  English- 
speaking  world  outside  of  the  Empire.  Of  the  English  essays 
75  per  cent,  were  marked  evangelical,  of  the  Scottish  72  per 
cent.,  of  the  Australasian  67  per  cent.,  of  the  American  56 
per  cent.  In  the  Oriental  countries  the  missionary  contribu- 
tion brought  up  the  evangelical  percentage  to  50.  Of  the 
English  and  Scottish  essays  about  ro  per  cent,  impressed  the 
readers  as  "  formal,"  and  a  somewhat  larger  proportion  of 
those   from   the  overseas   dominions   were   put   in   the   same 


12 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


TABLE  VII 

Showing  the  Prevalence  of  the  Types  of  Thought  in  the 
Country  of  Origin 


"a 
B 
0 

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u 

bo 
C 

> 

0 

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u 

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0, 
0 

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0 

OJ 

15 

u 

0. 
0 

0 
c 
If) 

*«  _ 

a 
D 

0 

H 

1) 
0 

il 

1.  England     

2.  Scotland    

3.  Wales    

4.  Ireland    

5.  Canada    

6.  Australasia   ..  . 

7.  Other     British 

Dominions    . 

8.  United   States. 

9.  France    

10.  Switzerland    . . 

11.  Other       Euro- 

pean    Coun- 
tries     

12.  Eastern    Coun- 

tries     

13.  Anonymous    . . 

102 

18 

2 

3 

5 

II 

7 

12 

2 

I 
4 

735 
III 

14 
29 
II 
64 

37 

108 

16 

7 

7 

26 

3 

22 

3 

2 

I 

4 

•    • 

I 
3 

2 

42 
15 

I 

3 
2 

I 
8 
I 
2 

6 

8 
I 

III 
20 
10 

5 

I 

16 

8 
61 

I 
■2 

6 

14 
13 

IO24I 

165 

27 

38 

20 

94 

55 

199 

21 

II 

14 

55 
17 

58.85 
9.48 

1-55 
2.18 

1. 15 
5-40 

3.16 

11.44 
1.21 

.63 

.81 

3-i6 
.98 

Total    

Percentage     . . 

167 
9.60 

1168 
67-13 

28 
1.61 

10 

•57 

81 

4.66 

18 
1.03 

268 
15.40 

1740 

100 
100 

1  46  in  excess  of  total  number  of  English  essays  owini?  to  about  20  exemplifying 
more  than  one  type  of  thought.  The  total  excess  under  this  analysis,  as  already 
noted,  was   73. 

categ^ory.  The  traditional  devotion  of  the  Scottish  mind  to 
philosophy,  and  the  wide  representation  of  metaphysics  in  its 
intellectual  culture,  were  slightly  reflected  in  its  contribution  of 
essays  of  a  philosophic  cast,  which  amounted  to  about  ii  per 
cent,  of  its  total  number,  as  compared  with  4  per  cent,  in  the 
case  of  the  English  and  of  the  American  essays.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Scottish  essays  only  drew  incidentally  upon  scientific 
material  for  illustrative  or  apologetic  purposes.  The  propor- 
tion of  Welsh  essays  classed  as  evangelical  was  surprisingly 
small  —  the  number  being  only  slightly  in  excess  of  that  in  the 
unclassified  group.  The  phenomenon  is  doubtless  evidence  of 
the  blending  with  the  traditional  evangelicalism  of  a  growing 
intellectualism.  The  table  also  deepens  the  impression  of  the 
mobility  and  variety,  if  not  the  unsettlement,  of  the  American 
mind.  30  per  cent,  of  the  essays  from  the  United  States  defied 
classification  according  to  the  accepted  criteria,  as  compared 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND 


13 


with  the  English  proportion  of  about  one-ninth,  and  the 
Scottish  proportion  of  about  one-eighth,  of  refractory  essays. 
The  eclectic  groups  were  all  represented  in  the  American  essays, 
and  in  larger  proportions  than  in  the  English  essays.  It 
was  also  contrary  to  expectation  that  England  would  con- 
tribute as  many  as  22  mystical  essays,  and  Oriental  countries 
so  few  as  2  out  of  a  total  of  28.  In  view,  however,  of  the 
vagueness  of  the  category  "  mystical,"  it  would  be  wrong  to 
lay  much  stress  on  this  particular  observation. 

TABLE  VIII 

Showing  the  Prev.xlence  of  the  Types  of  Thought  among 
THE  Churches  and  other  Organisations. 


E 

V. 

0 

a 

> 

'a 

(A 

a. 
0 
in 
0 

V 

H 

u 

&. 
0 
to 

'Ja 

Ph 

0 

.'5 

■*-> 
a 

V 

'0 

(A 

a 
u 

c 

0 

60 
n 

c 

u 
u 
u 

V 

1.  Anglican     .... 

2.  Roman     Cath- 

olic     

3.  Presby.        and 

other      Prot. 
Churches     . . 

4.  Salvation 

Army    

5.  Undenomina- 

tional     

6.  Swedenborgian 

7.  Spiritualistic    . 

8.  Christian 

Science    .... 

9.  New    Thought 

10.  Unclassified    .. 

11.  Oriental    

12.  Mohammedan 

13.  Jewish    

18 

10 

7 

130 

I 
I 

108 

35 

33 
2 

983 

3 
I 

3 

2 

I 

16 

I 

3 
2 

3 

I 

5 

I 
I 
:2 

7 

I 

8 

48 

3 

12 

2 

I 

13 
4 

10 
2 

4 

I 

103 

I 
I 

27 

13 

95 

9 

I 

I 

147 
49 

52 

3 

1298 

I 
I 

32 

21 

118 

16 

I 

I 

8.45 
2.81 

2.99 
•17 

74.60 
.06 
.06 

1.84 

1.20 

6.78 

•92 

.06 

.06 

Total    

Percentage    . . 

167 
9.60 

1168 
67.13 

28 
I.61 

10 

.57 

81 
4.66 

.18 
1.03 

268 
1540 

1740I 

IOC.  00 
100.00 

1  See  deduction  in  Table  VII. 

From  this  table  it  appears  that  78  per  cent,  of  the  essays 
descril:>ed  as  undenominational  or  ecclesiasticallv  colourless 
could  also  be  labelled  evangelical.  Sixty-one  made  apologetic 
use  of  philosophical  and  scientific  material.  Five  made  an 
attempt  to  combine  theosophic  ideas  with  the  Christian  scheme 
of  thought,  and  several  of  the  unclassified  division  might  be 
thought  to  involve  a  pantheistic  philosophy.     A  further  feature 


14  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  interest  is  that  even  of  those  writers  who  were  identified  as 
members  of  the  Roman  CathoHc  and  Anglican  Churches  71  per 
cent,  and  73  per  cent,  respectively  were  described  as  "  evangel- 
ical." There  was  again  indication  of  the  prominence  of 
philosophical  culture  in  the  training  of  the  Presbyterian  min- 
istry. The  essays  representing  Christian  Science  and  New 
Thought  were  found  to  be  too  amorphous  to  be  easily  as- 
signed to  an  accepted  category,  and  the  majority  of  the  essays 
in  both  groups  remained  unclassified.  The  great  majority  of 
those  which  it  was  found  impossible  to  connect  with  a  par- 
ticular Church  offered  equal  difficulty  when  it  was  attempted  to 
define  their  general  type  of  thought. 

The  general  results  of  this  section  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows : — 

1.  The  disclosure  in  Great  Britain  of  a  vast  amount  of  solid 
and  serious  thinking  on  religious  subjects  by  men  and  women 
on  a  high  level  of  intelligence  and  culture. 

2.  The  predominance  of  a  moderately  orthodox  and  evan- 
gelical type  of  thought  which  shows  little  or  no  trace  of  de- 
pendence on  ecclesiastical  authority. 

3.  The  fidelity  with  which  the  salient  characteristics  of  the 
intellectual  and  religious  life  of  Great  Britain  have  been  re- 
produced in  the  English-speaking  dominions,  and  the  magnitude 
of  the  spiritual  inheritance  common  to  Britain  and  America. 

4.  The  discontent  of  a  section  of  Christians  with  common- 
place Christianity,  and  their  aspiration  after  the  deeper  or 
more  ecstatic  experiences. 

5.  The  desire,  revealed  in  the  eclectic  and  in  many  unclassi- 
fied essays,  of  a  new  synthesis  of  religious  truths,  or  at  least  of 
the  enrichment  of  the  ordinary  Christian  scheme  of  thought  by 
the  assimilation  of  fresh  elements  from  history,  philosophy, 
science,  and  mystical  experience. 

6.  The  combination  of  even  the  strongest  personal  convic- 
tion with  a  tolerant  and  a  charitable  spirit. 

II.  The  Argument  of  the  Essays 

From  a  general  view  of  the  genesis  and  the  standpoint  of  the 
essays  we  turn  to  consider  the  contribution  which  they  make 
to  their  proper  subject  of  Prayer. 

Viewed  as  a  whole,  the  treatment  has  a  very  distinct  stamp 
of  modernity.  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the  ideas  which  form 
the  staple  of  the  essays  belong  to  the  common  good  of  Christen- 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  15 

dom  which  is  enshrined  in  the  Scriptures,  and  which  has  been 
transmitted  in  and  through  the  Christian  Church  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  At  the  same  time,  most  of  the  papers  are 
essentially  emanations  from  the  active  intelligence  and  the  first- 
hand experience  of  the  contemporary  world.  They  are  a 
revelation  of  a  living  faith  doing  its  characteristic  work  — 
linding  for  its  own  satisfaction  the  vehicle  of  self-expression, 
defending  itself  by  repelling  hostile  and  threatening  elements, 
and  enriching  itself  by  appropriating  and  assimilating  what- 
ever material  it  has  found  serviceable  in  the  modern  environ- 
ment. Disturbed  and  even  chaotic  as  the  modern  conditions 
are,  it  may  be  added,  the  general  attitude  is  one  of  confidence, 
not  of  indecision  or  bewilderment. 

To  the  historical  student  it  might  seem  that  these  essays 
show  a  culpable  neglect  of  intellectual  treasures  of  the  past. 
Few  claimed  acquaintance  with  the  older  literature,  even  with 
treatises  that  rank  in  bil)liographics  as  classic  —  such  as  the 
expositions  and  discussions  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  Calvin,  and 
the  representative  Anglican  and  Lutheran  theologians  —  in 
which  the  thinking  of  a  Church  or  of  an  epoch  was  reproduced, 
and  in  which  additions  were  made  out  of  rich  individual  re- 
sources of  reflection  and  piety.  In  particular,  scant  knowledge 
was  shown  of  the  older  apologetic  literature,  even  of  those 
treatises  which  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
grappled  directly  and  ably  with  the  persistent  problem  of  the 
place  of  prayer  in  an  orderly  universe.  On  the  other  side  it 
was  clear  that  the  typical  modern  man  is  a  very  diligent  and 
promiscuous  reader  of  current  literature,  and  finds  in  its 
novelty  and  contemporaneousness  more  than  sufficient  com- 
pensation for  what  it  may  lack  in  intellectual  and  literary  dis- 
tinction. After  all,  it  may  be  thought  quite  creditable  that  a 
generation  prefers  to  do  its  own  thinking,  and  only  natural  that 
it  feels  most  at  home  in  its  own  atmosphere,  and  among  voices 
that  have  a  familiar  accent. 

In  a  brief  survey  of  the  mass  of  material  which  has  been 
read  or  reported  on,  a  reviewer's  chief  aim  must  be  to  give 
some  impression  of  the  extent  of  the  harmony,  and  also  of  the 
divergence,  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  cardinal  topics  of  a 
doctrine  of  prayer. 

There  is  practicallv  universal  agreement  as  to  the  privilege, 
the  duty,  and  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  Coming  to  the  detailed 
topics,  w^e  find  a  general  consensus  of  belief,  but  also  some 
difference,  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  God  which  is  the  pre- 


1 6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

supposition  of  prayer;  while  the  general  mind  shows  consider- 
able independence  and  detachment,  with  a  greatly  preponderat- 
ing positive  attitude,  in  its  handling  of  the  debatable  questions 
that  emerge  in  every  full  treatment  of  the  theme.  Of  these 
the  chief  are  the  precise  nature  of  the  blessings  which  are  the 
proper  objects  of  prayer,  the  manner  in  which  God,  consistently 
with  the  reign  of  law  in  the  universe,  can  and  does  answer 
prayer,  the  conditions  of  effectual  prayer,  and  the  solution  of 
the  problem  of  unanswered  prayer. 

(i.)   The  Consensus  as  to  the  Efficacy  of  Prayer 

Those  "  readers  "  who  were  in  a  position  to  survey  the 
essays  as  a  whole  were  deeply  impressed,  not  merely  by  the 
unanimity  of  the  testimony  to  the  power  of  prayer  but  also  by 
the  strength  of  conviction  with  which  this  was  asserted,  and 
further  by  the  frequency  of  the  appeal  to  personal  experience. 

"  The  selected  essays,"  writes  one,  "  give  only  a  faint  idea 
of  the  effect  of  reading  the  evidence  of  the  many  writers  who 
have  contributed  essays  under  this  scheme.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult indeed  for  any  unbiassed  reader  to  go  through  the  evidence 
of  these  1667  essays,  many  of  them  human  documents  of 
deeply  pathetic  power,  and  remain  unconvinced  of  the  reality 
and  the  power  of  prayer  in  the  lives  of  the  people.  Prayer  to 
practically  all  of  the  contributors  is  something  real  and  of  in- 
estimable value." 

"  I  have  a  strong  conviction,"  says  another,  "  of  the  pro- 
found grip  which  prayer  has  on  so  large  a  proportion  of  human 
beings.  The  fact  was  borne  in  on  the  mind  that  prayer  is  in 
very  truth  the  most  instinctive  and  compelling  power  in  the 
world  —  an  elevated  force  which  exercises  an  influence  over 
human  emotion,  thought,  and  action  but  little  suspected  by  the 
average  individual.  The  contributions  have  been  of  the  most 
varied  kind  —  some  the  feeble  literary  efforts  of  an  untrained 
intellect,  others  the  masterly  products  of  cultured  and  en- 
lightened minds ;  nevertheless  in  practically  all  there  is  a  firm 
conviction  of  the  personal  importance  of  the  matter,  and  a 
strong  desire  to  make  the  practice  of  prayer  more  popular  and 
general." 

A  third  "  reader  "  notes  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
the  confidence  in  prayer  obviously  has  its  roots  in  the  inner 
life.  Most  speak  of  what  they  know  —  that  in  their  own  ex- 
perience "  prayer  has  been  found  to  be  a  means  of  receiving 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  17 

comfort  and  illumination,  guidance  and  help,  both  for  them- 
selves and  for  others." 

(ii.)    The  Presupposition  of  God 

It  is  obvious  that  the  idea  which  a  writer  has  formed  of  God 
must  govern  his  treatment  of  the  subject  of  prayer,  and  de- 
termine his  conception  of  what  may  and  of  what  may  not  be 
legitimately  sought  in  prayer.  The  great  majority  of  the 
essayists  accepted,  usually  without  formal  exposition  or  de- 
fence, the  truth  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  God  as  a  personal 
Being,  infinite  in  power,  in  wisdom,  and  in  goodness,  the  God 
and  Father  of  Christ,  in  Whom  were  revealed  His  moral  per- 
fections and  His  gracious  purposes  towards  mankind.  With 
this  theological  doctrine  as  the  presupposition,  the  essential  ob- 
jective conditions  of  effectual  prayer  were  naturally  felt  to  be 
established :  the  Divine  omniscience  guarantees  that  every 
prayer,  along  with  the  attendant  circumstances  of  the  worship- 
pers, comes  to  the  knowledge  of  God ;  His  omnipotence  and  His 
wisdom  ensure  His  ability  to  help ;  His  love,  conceived  as  per- 
fect Fatherhood,  or  as  Christlike  tenderness,  makes  it  certain 
that  His  willingness  to  help  can  be  as  confidently  depended  on 
as  His  wisdom  and  His  power. 

In  the  more  philosophical  essays  there  is  considerable  dis- 
cussion of  the  article  of  the  personality  of  God,  which  is  aban- 
doned by  the  pantheists,  and  doubtfully  held  by  some  of  the 
representatives  of  a  speculative  theism.  It  is  obviously  true 
that  "  personality  is  an  essential  attribute  of  a  prayer-answer- 
ing God,"  but  the  pantheistic  essays  show  that  belief  in  an  im- 
personal deity  is  not  incompatible  with  a  spirit  of  intense  de- 
votion. In  this  connection  reference  may  be  made  to  a 
group  of  essays  which  lay  special  emphasis  on  the  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  immanence  —  often  supposed  to  have  a  pantheistic 
taint.  "  The  immanence  of  God,"  to  quote  one  of  the  "  read- 
ers," "  is  an  idea  that  has  seized  hold  of  the  imagination  of 
many.  They  prefer  to  do  away  with  the  idea  of  a  deity 
dwelling  in  transcendent  glory  and  majesty  somewhere  above 
the  clouds,  and  to  accept  in  its  place  that  of  a  presence  within 
the  innennost  nature  of  every  human  being.  In  some  types 
of  thought  this  issues  in  an  identification  of  God  with  the  de- 
veloping finite  consciousness,  and  God  is  supposed  to  evolve 
pari  passu  with  the  rise  of  mankind."  Others  regard  this  as  a 
false  antithesis,  hold  that  transcendence  does  not  necessarily 


1 8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

involve  thinking  in  pictures,  and  refuse  to  admit  that,  if  they 
believe  that  God  is  transcendent,  they  cannot  consistently  be- 
lieve in  His  immanence.  It  is  evident  that  when  the  Divine 
immanence  is  held  to  imply  an  impersonal  and  evolving  deity, 
the  doctrine  issues  in  a  non-Christian  scheme  of  thought;  but 
it  does  not  necessarily  involve  the  negation  of  Divine  person- 
ality and  immutability.  It  only  impHes  that  God  is  every- 
where present  and  operative  in  His  creation ;  and  many  find  it 
quite  reasonable  to  hold  this  and  at  the  same  time  to  maintain 
against  pantheism  that  the  immanent  God  is  also  a  Being  Who 
is  exalted  above  and  distinct  from  the  world.  No  doubt  the 
popular  mind  often  thinks  of  God  as  confined  to  a  throne  in  a 
local  Heaven,  but  many  of  the  essayists  have  read  enough 
theology  to  know  that  for  centuries  the  authoritative  doctors 
of  the  Church  have  affirmed  the  Divine  omnipresence  and  the 
co-operation  of  God  in  all  creaturely  life  and  activity  which  is 
compatible  with  the  Divine  holiness,  and  that  they  have  claimed 
the  comfort  of  believing  in  an  indwelling  God  without  being 
forced  to  purchase  it  at  the  cost  of  merging  God  in  the  ad- 
vancing stages  of  an  unconscious  world-process. 

Another  group  of  essayists,  while  believing  the  Infinite  to 
be  a  personal  spirit,  have  misgivings  as  to  whether  His  ineffable 
majesty  is  consistent  with  the  demands  which  are  made  on 
Him  in  popular  religion  to  reveal  Himself  as  the  hearer  and 
the  answerer  of  our  private  petitions.  They  think  that  the 
literal  interpretation  of  His  Fatherhood  —  the  assumption 
that  He  attends  to  the  requests  and  weighs  the  needs  of  each 
of  His  children- — is  an  anthropomorphic  mode  of  thought 
which  is  destined  to  be  put  away  with  other  childish  things. 
One  "  reader "  thus  defines  the  difference  between  two  con- 
ceptions of  God  which  he  has  found  in  the  essays  —  on  the  one 
hand  "  a  sublime  principle,  the  formless  ineffable  Being,  Whose 
will  and  thought  evolved  and  maintain  the  cosmos,  and  before 
Whom  we  are  lost  in  praise  and  wonder";  on  the  other  "  an 
anthropomorphic  power  which  can  be  persuaded  into  granting 
desires  and  satisfactions  even  of  a  worldly  and  material 
character."  As  a  fact,  many  of  the  writers,  and  among  them 
not  the  least  thoughtful,  conceive  that  they  are  entitled  to 
combine  the  ideas  of  the  Infinite  and  of  the  Heavenly  Father, 
and  that  they  magnify  instead  of  limiting  the  greatness  of 
God  when  they  believe  that  the  God  of  all-glorious  perfections, 
Who  upholds  the  frame  of  the  universe,  and  is  the  principle 
of  all  life,  and  "  the  soul  of  all  souls,"  is  also  able  to  embrace 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  19 

each  unit  of  His  creation  in  a  scheme  of  most  minute  and 
clear  knowledge,  and  to  treat  each  being  that  bears  His  image 
as  the  object  of  a  discriminatingly  parental  love  and  care. 

Passing  to  particular  attributes  of  God,  we  observe  that 
several  of  these  have  an  intimate  bearing  on  the  nature  and 
value  of  prayer,  and  give  rise  to  various  objections  and 
difiiculties,  although  in  the  essays  these  are  seldom  developed 
in  the  fomi  of  a  negative  polemic,  and  are  mostly  handled 
from  the  apologetic  point  of  view  of  stating  and  answering 
objections.  The  imnuitability  of  God  is  referred  to  as  in 
apparent  conflict  with  the  fulfilment  of  many  desires  which  are 
conveyed  to  Plim  in  prayer.  The  world  with  its  fixed  order 
—  to  name  in  anticipation  one  of  the  great  central  problems  — 
may  appear  to  be  an  expression  of  God's  settled  purpose 
from  which  we  seem  in  many  of  our  supplications  to  be 
irreverently  trying  to  persuade  Him  to  depart.  The  Divine 
attributes  of  w^isdom  and  love  suggest  an  objection  of  a  dif- 
ferent kind  —  that  it  is  not  indeed  presumptuous,  but  rather 
superfluous,  to  make  an  appeal  for  help  to  the  all-loving.  Who 
is  also  all-powerful  and  all-wise.  In  reply  to  the  suggestion 
that  prayer  is  needless,  the  usual  reply  is  that  it  is  reasonable 
and  in  accordance  with  analogy  for  God  to  associate  Plis 
benefits  with  the  use  of  special  means  or  the  fulfilment  of 
special  conditions,  and  further  that  in  the  case  of  petitions  for 
spiritual  blessings  the  power  of  God  to  give  wdiat  is  asked  is 
to  some  extent  limited  by  receptivity  on  the  human  side  — 
which  receptivity  pre-supposes  the  spirit  and  the  attitude  of 
prayer.  The  bearing  of  the  doctrine  of  Predestination  on 
the  subject,  which  w^ould  have  been  a  capital  topic  in  earlier 
periods,  was  little  discussed  in  the  essays. 

(iii.)   The  Scope  of  Prayer 

It  is  usual  to  distinguish  five  kinds  of  prayer  —  Adoration, 
Thanksgiving,  Confession,  Supplication,  and  Intercession. 
The  following  scheme  may  bring  out  more  clearly  the  dis- 
tinction and  the  relations  of  those  forms. 

Kinds  of  Prayer 

A.  Self-regarding  \     ];  Declaratory  =  Thanksgiving.     Confession. 
"  ^  [     2.  Petitionary  =  bupplication. 

n    Au     •  f-o  )      I-  Declaratory  =  Thanksgiving.     Confession. 

H.  Altruii,tic  ^     2.  Petitionary  =  Intercession. 

C.  God-absorbed      =  Adoration. 


20  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

I.  Self -regarding  and  Altruistic  Prayer 

As  indicated  in  the  above  table,  there  is  one  important  kind 
of  prayer,  Adoration,  which  is  neither  self -regarding  nor 
altruistic,  though  it  finds  much  of  its  expression  in  the  form 
of  thanksgiving.  A  few  writers  commend  as  the  highest 
form  the  prayer  of  pure  adoration,  and  the  allied  experiences 
of  the  "  prayer  of  union  or  communion  "  in  which  the  thought 
of  self  and  others  tends  to  vanish  from  consciousness  under 
the  realisation  ofv^the  infinite  majesty  of  the  most  real  Being. 
This  is  a  common  attitude  of  the  mystical  group.  Ordinarily, 
however,  prayers  are  thought  of  as  offered  either  for  the 
worshipper  or  on  behalf  of  others. 

The  propriety  and  efficacy  of  intercessory  prayer  was  occa- 
sionally questioned,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  difficult  to  suppose 
that  God  "  will  confer  a  blessing  upon  some  one  at  the  expense 
of  others,"  or  even  that  "  no  one  has  the  right  thus  to  inter- 
fere in  the  lives  of  others."  This,  however,  is  an  eccentricity 
of  religious  meditation.  A  much  larger  number  regard  in- 
tercession, in  view  of  its  normally  unselfish  spirit,  as  the  high- 
est kind,  and  hold  that,  especially  when  it  is  directed  to  pro- 
cure spiritual  benefits,  it  is  "  the  most  valuable  and  helpful 
form  of  prayer,"  and  that  which  is  "  most  certain  of  the 
richest  answer."  Much  impressive  evidence  is  adduced  in 
confirmation  of  the  efficacy  of  intercession.  Many  Christians 
are  profoundly  convinced  that  God  never  acts  so  promptly 
and  graciously  as  in  response  to  a  prayer  for  spiritual  help  to 
loved  ones,  while  the  theosophic  group  vie  with  this  in  the 
confidence  of  their  faith  that  even  pure  and  loving  thoughts 
have  power  to  transform  or  purify  the  souls  which  they  en- 
circle by  their  power  and  permeate  with  their  fragrance.  The 
rubric  of  intercession  includes  prayers  for  the  dead  —  a  sub- 
ject in  which  there  has  obviously  been  a  great  revival  of  in- 
terest. The  opinion  formed  as  to  the  legitimacy  and  value  of 
such  prayers  obviously  depends  on  the  view  held  as  to  an 
intermediate  state,  and  the  condition  therein  of  departed 
souls.  Some  operate  with  the  traditional  Protestant  view  — 
holding  that  destinies  are  inexorably  fixed  at  death,  that  the 
souls  of  believers  do  immediately  pass  into  glory,  of  unbe- 
lievers to  the  place  of  torment,  and  that  consequently  our 
prayers  for  the  departed  are  either  superfluous  or  come  into 
conflict  with  a  settled  judgement  of  God.  There  is,  however, 
an  evident  decline  of  dogmatism  in  Protestant  Eschatology, 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  21 

and  a  growing  tendency  to  suljstitiite  tlie  idea  of  continuity 
of  character  and  a  progressive  development  for  the  conception 
of  the  immediacy  of  Heaven  and  Hell.  There  is  at  least  a 
widespread  feeling  that  the  whole  question  of  the  intermediate 
state,  with  its  practical  corollary  in  prayer  for  the  departed, 
needs  reconsideration  by  the  Protestant  Church.  The  Roman 
Catholic  contributors,  with  their  doctrine  of  a  middle  state  of 
Purgatory,  naturally  support  the  practice  of  prayers  for  the 
dead,  though  one  "  reader  "  notes  that  the  treatment  strikes 
him  as  somewhat  formal.  For  the  Spiritualists  and  Theoso- 
phists  "  the  life  of  the  dead  runs  on  contemporaneously  with 
our  own,  and  thoughts  and  prayers  are  interchangeable  from 
one  plane  to  another." 

2.  Petitionary  Prayer 

Naturally,  most  attention  is  given  to  the  petition,  and  that 
in  its  two  kinds  of  self-regarding  and  altruistic  prayer.  Many 
proceed  on  the  assumption  that  the  essence  of  prayer  is  that 
"  man  applies,  God  complies;  man  asks  a  favour,  God  bestows 
it."  "  On  the  part  of  the  most  thoughtful  of  the  essays,"  it  is 
reported,  "  there  is  a  tendency  to  belittle  the  importance  of 
petitionary  prayer,"  and  even  to  question  its  necessity  and 
validity.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  an  overwhelming  balance 
of  declared  opinion  to  the  effect  that  petitionary  prayers  are 
legitimate,  and  that  they  are  answered ;  while  marked  cleavage 
of  opinion  only  emerges  as  to  the  kinds  of  benefits  which, 
whether  on  behalf  of  ourselves  or  others,  may  properly  be 
made  matter  of  supplication.  It  is  common  to  adopt  the 
distinction  between  spiritual  and  material  boons  in  discussing 
the  things  \vhich  are  made  matter  of  prayer.  The  spiritual, 
sometimes  also  described  as  subjective,  include  all  the  bless- 
ings that  can  be  conveyed  to  the  individual  mind,  heart,  or 
will  in  the  form  of  enlightenment  or  gracious  impulse,  in  the 
decisive  experience  of  a  conversion,  in  the  growth  of  the  virtues 
and  graces  which  are  the  elements  of  noble  character,  in  the 
breaking  of  the  fetters  of  evil  habit,  and  in  the  achievement 
of  victory  over  a  sudden  temptation.  Spiritual  blessings  are 
represented  in  the  life  of  a  church  or  a  nation  in  revivals  of 
religious  life,  and  in  the  moral  regeneration  wdiich  gives  birth 
to  higher  ideals  and  intensifies  the  spirit  of  service.  Their 
great  symbol  and  compendium  is  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
material   blessings   ar^  those   which   enter   into   the   world's 


(S) 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


conception  of  the  chief  good,  as  health,  length  of  days,  riches, 
and  honour,  with  protection  against  the  forces  that  imperil 
our  tenure  of  these  possessions  and  menace  the  earthly  con- 
ditions of  our  happiness. 

Apart,  now,  from  the  small  section  which  rules  out  petition 
as  presumptuous  or  superfluous,  it  is  common  ground  that 
prayer  is  effectual  in  claiming  those  blessings  which  are  trans- 
missible through  a  spiritual  channel,  and  which  convey  new 
light  to  the  mind,  or  are  interwoven  with  the  staple  of  indi- 
vidual or  collective  character.  Spiritual  blessings  make  up 
the  core  of  the  Christian  salvation,  and  are  promised  to  prayer, 
and  they  are  therefore  necessarily  recognised  as  objects  of 
prayer  by  all  who  write  from  the  Christian  standpoint;  the 
higher  ethical  religions  also  stand  sponsor,  though  with  serious 
limitations,  for  the  bestowal  of  the  highest  boons  of  the  spir- 
itual life;  while  from  both  East  and  West  a  great  mass  of 
evidence  is  tendered  to  show  that  those  prayers  which  have  a 
purely  spiritual  intent  have  normally  an  extraordinary  efficacy. 
Many  concrete  instances  are  given  of  persevering  prayer  which 
issued  in  the  definite  conversion  of  an  individual,  in  a  signal 
deliverance  from  an  ensnaring  habit,  and  also  in  divinely  wise 
guidance  amid  life's  grievous  and  perilous  perplexities. 

The  conflict  of  opinion  referred  to  emerges  in  regard  to 
prayers  for  blessings  of  a  worldly  or  temporal  kind,  and 
especially  those  which  belong  to  the  material  order.  "  Quite 
a  number  of  writers  affirm,"  says  a  "  reader,"  "  that  the  only 
legitimate  prayer  that  can  be  offered  is  for  the  doing  of  God's 
will,  along  with  the  request  that  the  one  who  is  praying  may 
be  used  in  any  way  to  further  that  will,  or  for  the  coming  of 
God's  Kingdom."  "  The  conception  of  prayer  which  is  be- 
coming dominant,"  to  quote  another  impression,  "  is  that  it 
is  mainly  subjective  in  its  influence" — not  indeed  in  the 
sense  that  its  only  effect  is  the  reflex  influence  on  the  wor- 
shipper, but  at  least  in  the  sense  that  the  worshipper  may 
only  look  to  God  for  such  subjective  effects  as  illumination, 
regeneration,  and  consolation.  "  The  power  of  prayer,"  as 
one  puts  it,  "  is  seen  in  improving  our  character,  not  in  chang- 
ing our  circumstances." 

Among  the  reasons  which  have  influenced  those  who  would 
exclude  prayer  from  the  material  realm,  the  following  have 
carried  most  weight  —  that  in  the  lower  religions  prayers  are 
almost  solely  directed  to  worldly  good,  while  in  the  higher 
religions,  and  especially  in  Christianity,  attention  is  focussed 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  23 

on  spiritual  gifts,  and  we  are  even  taught  to  glory  in  tribula- 
tions; that  many  prayers  of  the  worldly  sort  have  a  root  of 
selfishness  and  could  only  be  granted  to  our  spiritual  hurt  or 
at  the  expense  of  others;  that  God  intends  us  to  procure 
worldly  success  and  safety  by  working  for  them  rather  than 
by  praying  for  them  —  as  seen  in  the  fact  that  modern  human 
inventions  deliver  us  from  many  dangers  against  which 
prayer  afforded  very  dubious  protection ;  and,  above  all,  that 
events  in  the  material  world  occur  under  a  system  of  natural 
causation  with  which  we  cannot  ask  or  expect  God  to  interfere. 
This  limitation  of  the  scope  of  prayer,  however,  does  not  appear 
to  be  favoured  by  the  majority  even  of  the  more  intellectual 
writers.  They  contend  that  God  is  Lord  in  all  realms  of 
His  creation,  and  that  it  is  His  will  to  be  sought  of  us  in  all 
things  which  contribute  in  any  way  to  promote  or  safeguard 
the  fullest  well-being  of  His  children.  Prominent  among  the 
reasons  which  are  urged  in  support  of  the  wider  conception 
of  the  efficacy  of  prayer  is  the  argument  that  the  objective 
and  the  subjective  realms,  or  the  material  and  the  spiritual, 
are  closely  interwoven:  if  God  operates  in  one  sphere, 
His  acts  penetrate  into  the  other,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
debar  Him  from  one  without  banishing  Him  from  both.  In 
particular  it  is  observed  that  a  prayer  for  a  material  benefit 
may  often  be  answered  by  the  communication  of  an  appro- 
priate impulse  to  the  mind  of  a  human  agent,  who  thus  be- 
comes the  instrument  for  carrying  out  in  the  material  realm 
a  transaction  which  has  the  force  of  a  specific  answer  to 
prayer.  The  main  consideration,  how-ever,  which  determines 
the  majority  in  maintaining  the  conservative  position  is  that 
faith  in  the  efficacy  of  both  kinds  of  petition  is  jus- 
tified by  the  facts  of  experience.  To  the  special  objections 
above  enumerated  replies  are  made  somewhat  on  these  lines  — 
that  while  it  is  true  that  prayer  becomes  more  spiritual  in 
the  higher  religions,  the  most  spiritual  of  faiths  ascribes  to 
God  the  comprehensive  care  of  a  Father  Who  bids  us  pray 
for  our  daily  bread,  and  promises  to  add  all  other  things  to 
those  who  first  seek  His  Kingdom;  that  prayers  for  material 
benefits  may  be  and  often  are  governed  by  the  spirit  of  Christ; 
that  the  real  alternative  is  not  whether  we  should  use  means 
or  pray  but  w^hether  or  not  we  should  both  work  and  pray; 
and  finally  that  as  the  subjective  realm  is  under  law  as  well 
as  the  external  world,  the  God  Who  is  believed  to  be  able  to 
answer  prayers  in  the  former  must  equally  be  deemed  able  to 


24  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

answer  them  in  the  latter.  To  the  last  point,  which  is  the  intel- 
lectual crux  of  the  philosophy  of  prayer,  we  shall  revert  in 
the  next  section. 

The  tendency  to  restrict  the  action  of  God  as  the  answerer 
of  prayer  to  the  mental  or  religious  realm  has  been  markedly 
checked  by  a  revival  of  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer  as  a 
means,  or  at  least  as  a  condition,  of  bodily  healing.  The  deep 
and  widespread  interest  in  the  therapeutic  aspect  of  prayer  is 
evidenced  by  the  detailed  index  of  the  subject-matter  of  the 
essays,  in  which  the  references  to  prayer-healing  fill  as  many 
pages  as  the  references  to  the  most  fundamental  of  the  purely 
religious  topics.  The  prominence  of  the  subject  is  due  largely 
to  the  vigour  and  success  of  the  latter-day  progaganda  of  the 
school  of  Christian  Science,  in  part  also  to  the  impression 
made  by  the  report  of  the  Lourdes  cures  and  similar  cases, 
while  a  readier  disposition  to  believe  in  mystic  agencies  of 
healing  has  been  engendered  by  new  knowledge  or  by  new 
ideas  as  to  the  mysteries  of  the  human  frame  and  the  ultimate 
constitution  of  matter.  It  has  also  to  be  remembered  that 
the  ministers  of  the  Christian  Church,  in  accordance  with  their 
primitive  and  constant  tradition,  have  continued  to  offer  pray- 
ers for  the  recovery  of  the  sick,  and  a  welcome  could  thus  be 
counted  on  for  any  fresh  and  good  evidence  which  tended 
to  confirm  the  value  of  the  time-honoured  practice.  The 
numerous  references  in  the  essays  may  be  classified  as  repre- 
senting four  standpoints : 

(a)  The  traditional  Church  position,  which  heartily  rec- 
ognises medical  science  as  an  invaluable  servant  of  humanity, 
but  associates  prayer  with  medical  treatment  —  and  that 
chiefly  in  the  form  of  asking  God  to  bless  the  means  used  for 
recovery  or  for  the  alleviation  of  suffering. 

(b)  The  platform  of  Christian  Science,  with  its  conception 
of  physical  evil,  including  suffering,  as  of  the  nature  of  a 
non-entity,  and  with  its  main,  if  not  exclusive,  stress  on  the 
curative  potency  of  enlightened  thought,  of  confident  faith, 
and  of  prayer- force. 

(c)  Opposition  to  Christian  Science,  and  faith-healing 
generally,  with  appreciation  of  medical  science  and  its  curative 
agencies  as  part  of  the  Divine  economy,  and  as  forming  God's 
one  authentic  answer  to  prayer  for  the  sick.  In  this  context 
much  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  disciplinary  uses  of  pain,  and 
occasionall}'-  counsel  is  given  to  restrict  supplication  to  prayers 
for  "  patience  to  bear  pain,  and  for  sanctification  of  suffering." 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  25 

(d)  An  intermediate  scliool,  which,  while  repelled  by  the 
crude  and  nebulous  philosophy  and  the  one-sided  methods  of 
Christian  Science,  still  thinks  that  the  Christian  Church  shows 
too  half-hearted  a  belief  in  the  therapeutic  aspect  of  its  min- 
istrations, and  desires  to  re-incorporate  in  the  operative  Chris- 
tian creed  a  livelier  confidence  in  the  healing  potencies  that 
were  associated  by  Christ  and  His  apostles  with  the  Christian 
gospel.  In  this  connection,  much  is  written  on  the  value  of 
prayer  as  creating  a  frame  of  mind  favourable  to  recovery 
by  fostering  hope  and  expectancy,  and,  in  any  case,  working 
patience,  serenity,  the  sense  of  peace  wath  God,  and  the  dispo- 
sition to  submit  to  His  Uning  will.  There  has  also  been  com- 
piled a  long  list  of  striking  cures,  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of 
faith,  of  all  manner  of  sickness  and  disease  among  the  people. 

A  cautious  "  reader,"  who  has  devoted  much  attention  to 
this  phase  of  the  discussion,  writes  as  follows :  "  A  great 
body  of  testimony  concerning  cures,  even  the  saving  of  life,  is 
contained  in  the  essays,  some  of  which  indeed  deal  with  no 
other  part  of  the  subject  at  all.  Cases  in  no  way  short  of 
miracles  are  given,  both  by  orthodox  Christians  and  by  Chris- 
tian Scientists.''  "  The  greater  number,"  it  is  added,  "  rec- 
ommend the  association  of  physical  remedies  with  prayer." 
And  there  can  be  no  question  of  the  soundness  of  the  latter 
judgement.  When  we  study  the  history  of  medicine  and 
surgery  we  feel  that  w^e  are  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the 
grandest  achie\ements  of  the  human  mind,  which  w^as  the 
main  instrument  designed  by  the  Creator  for  coping  with 
human  sickness  and  suffering.  Yet,  when  we  start  from 
faith  in  the  miracles  of  Christ,  and  weigh  the  testimony  of 
experience  collected  in  these  essays,  there  is  good  ground  for 
liolding.  not  only  that  there  is  great  virtue  in  asking  God's 
blessing  on  the  means  but  that  there  are  fields  wathin  which  the 
limitations  of  human  methods  invite  a  special  appeal  to  the 
healing  hand  of  God. 

3.  Declaratory  Prayer 

We  may  group  as  declaratory  those  forms  of  prayer  in 
which  the  mind  dwells  upon  certain  facts  or  events.  Divine  or 
human,  and  makes  mention  of  them  to  God  without  specific 
request.  This  takes  place  under  the  felt  need  of  self-expres- 
sion, or  from  a  sense  of  veracity  wdiich  impels  us  to  give  utter- 
ance in  appropriate  form  to  facts  which  greatly  redound  either 


26  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

to  the  glory  of   God  or  witness  to  the  distress  and  to  the 
shame  of  man. 

(a)  Declaratory  prayer  is  the  basis  of  thanksgiving,  in 
which  mention  is  made  of  Divine  mercies  vouchsafed  to  self 
or  to  others.  Akin  to,  though  it  may  fall  short  of  thanks- 
giving, is  the  voice  of  trust  in  the  Divine  wisdom  and  goodness 
which  makes  itself  heard  even  out  of  the  depths.  This  trust 
naturally  issues  in  the  profession  of  submission  to  the  Divine 
will.  The  prayer  of  thanksgiving,  a  "  reader  "  observes,  "  is 
looked  on  by  many  as  the  highest  form  of  prayer,  the  angelic, 
the  nearest  in  spirit  to  the  worship  of  Heaven."  Others  mag- 
nify it  as  "  promoting  a  helpful  or  stimulating  attitude  of 
mind,"  and  as  being  a  necessary  antecedent  to  the  prayer  of 
supplication.  A  few,  failing  to  understand  the  deeper  motive 
of  worship,  disparage  it  on  the  ground  that  God  does  not  desire, 
any  more  than  He  needs,  the  praise  of  our  lips,  or  they 
object  to  it  that  "  thanksgiving  contains  more  of  the  element 
of  self  than  any  other  form  of  prayer."  Many  find  a  peculiar 
grace  in  the  prayer  of  resignation  as  "  hard  to  utter  but  best 
of  all." 

(b)  The  confession  of  sins  also  comes  under  the  head  of 
declaratory  prayer  —  since  it  is  a  form  of  self-expression, 
prompted  by  honesty,  which  is  felt  to  place  sinful  man  in  his 
right  position  in  the  presence  of  an  all-holy  God.  It  is  a  con- 
necting link  with  petitionary  prayer,  since  it  normally  issues, 
as  seen  in  the  sequence  of  thought  in  the  liturgies,  m  suppli- 
cation for  the  pardon  of  the  confessed  sins.  A  casual  voice 
contends  that  reformation  not  confession  is  the  sole  require- 
ment made  by  God  of  such  as  worship  Him.  Somewhat  sig- 
nificant is  the  small  space  occupied  in  the  topical  index  by  the 
references  to  confession,  as  this  lends  support  to  the  often  re- 
peated statement  that  the  modern  man  is  not  "  worrying  about 
his  sins."  It  may  also  be  partly  explained  by  the  fact  that 
Protestant  thought,  which  operates  with  the  conception  of  an 
immediate  and  full  forgiveness,  and  which  dispenses  with  the 
idea  of  a  Purgatory  in  which  particular  sins  are  particularly 
punished,  has  not  fomied  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  nature  of 
the  answer  to  be  expected  to  the  petition  for  pardon  of  the 
daily  sins. 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  27 

(iv.)    The  Possibility  of  Anszvers  to  Prayer  and  the 
Method  of  the  Divine  Response 

The  ground  on  which  most  writers  base  their  behef  in  the 
efficacy  of  prayer,  as  has  been  remarked,  is  the  evidence  from 
experience  combined  with  deference  to  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
lure.  It  is  generally  felt  that  it  is  also  a  mental  satisfaction 
to  show  how  it  is  possible  for  God  to  answer  prayer.  The 
need  of  an  hypothesis  as  to  the  mode  of  the  Divine  response 
to  prayer,  further,  has  become  urgent  in  modern  times  inas- 
much as  the  scientific  conception  of  the  reign  of  natural  law 
makes  the  prima  facie  impression  that  God  has  limited  His 
I)Ower  to  answer  prayer  by  the  relation  in  which  He  has 
placed  Himself  to  the  arrangements  of  the  created  universe. 

That  it  is  possible  for  God  to  answer  petitions  for  spiritual 
or  subjective  blessings  is  generally  held  to  be  self-evident  and 
su[)pc:)rted  by  analogy.  The  subjective  realm  is  less  obviously ' 
governed  l)y  the  law  of  invariable  antecedents  and  consequents, 
and  there  thus  seems  to  be  ample  scope  for  the  free  inter-play  of 
the  infinite  mind  and  the  finite  mind.  The  analogy  of  human 
intercourse  naturally  seems  to  be  decisive  in  this  connection. 
We  are  able  to  communicate  to  our  fellows  our  ideas,  feelings, 
and  purposes,  and  it  may  well  seem  incredil)le  that  a  God 
Who  is  the  living  God,  or  a  personal  Being,  should  be  unable 
to  hold  similar  converse  with  creatures  who,  as  made  in  His 
own  image,  are  naturally  supposed  to  have  the  capacity  for 
communion  with  Himself.  In  the  intercourse  of  human 
beings,  it  is  true,  the  communications  are  commonly  mediated 
through  speech,  writing,  or  gesture,  but  there  has  recently 
been  an  accumulation  of  experimental  evidence  which  has 
made  it  a  more  than  probable  opinion  that  under  favourable 
conditions  there  takes  place  a  direct  interaction  of  one  human 
mind  with  another. 

Star  to  star  vibrates  light,  may  soul  to  soul 
Strike  through  a  finer  medium  of  its  own? 

It  is  remarkable  with  what  general  consent  the  writers 
fasten  upon  the  phenomena  of  telepathy  as  elucidating  the 
possibility  of  the  Divine  response  to  prayer  for  enlightenment 
and  grace:  if  one  finite  mind  can  collect  rnessages  from  an- 
other, the  argument  runs,  the  infinite  mind  may  well  be  trusted 
to  be  receptive  of  every  sincere  cry  for  help,  and  also  to  be 
able  to  flash  back  with  unerring  certainty  the  reply  which  a 


28  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

human  soul  requires,  or  which  it  is  attuned  for  receiving.  The 
new  emphasis  on  the  Divine  immanence,  which  represents  God 
as  enshrined  "  in  the  innermost  tabernacle  of  our  being,"  has 
also  made  it  more  easily  conceived  that  God  is  readily  accessi- 
ble to  our  every  aspiration,  and  that  the  direct  responses  of 
grace  can  be  made  effectually  operative  throughout  the  whole 
range  of  mental  life  and  spiritual  experience.  It  is  more  dif- 
ficult to  see  how  God  can  answer  petitions  when  an  answer  finds 
obstacles  in  the  forces  and  laws  of  the  material  world.  The 
telepathic  analogy  or  hypothesis  would,  of  course,  explain 
how,  if  a  woman  prays  for  bread  for  her  children,  a  benevo- 
lent person  could  be  prompted  to  send  her  money  or  loaves, 
but  there  is  no  such  link  to  mediate  the  answer  to  a  prayer  for 
rain,  or  for  the  deflection  of  a  bullet  from  its  billet.  It  is  a 
scientific  axiom  that  such  events  are  due  to  forces  resident  in 
the  natural  order,  which  exhibit  unvarying  sequences  of  cause 
and  effect,  and  the  difficulty  is  to  see  how  a  prayer,  or  the  will 
of  God  as  moved  by  prayer,  can  enter  in  any  way  into  this 
chain  of  events  as  a  governing  or  conditioning  factor.  As 
already  mentioned,  many  think  that  where  a  fixed  order  of 
nature  is  established,  petitionary  prayer  is  ruled  out  —  that 
we  have  to  recognise  the  benevolence  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Deity  in  the  general  dispensation  that  placed  us  in  a  world  in 
which  particular  consequences  can  be  absolutely  relied  on  to 
follow  upon  particular  antecedents,  and  that  true  piety  there- 
fore consists  in  placing  ourselves  by  knowledge  and  work  in 
line  with,  and  in  learning  to  submit  with  patience  to,  the  Divine 
will  as  revealed  in  the  fixed  arrangements  of  the  cosmos. 
Others,  however,  and  these  the  greater  number,  hold  it  to  be  a 
fact  guaranteed  by  experience  as  well  as  Scripture  that  prayers 
are  answered  even  within  the  realm  in  which  science  most  con- 
fidently proclaims  the  realm  of  law,  and  as  the  actual  is  cer- 
tainly possible,  they  make  an  attempt  in  different  ways  to  show 
how  such  prayers  may  conceivably  be  answered.  The  ex- 
planations follow  three  lines. 

I.  One  method  is  to  question  the  validity  of  the  scientific 
generalisation  of  a  fixed  natural  order,  and  thus  to  make 
room  for  miraculous  transactions  wrought  by  God  in  answer 
to  our  petitions.  In  opposition  to  the  doctrine  that  everything 
which  happens  is  due  to  natural  forces,  and  that  these  forces 
act  in  a  uniform  way  definable  in  general  laws,  it  is  held  that 
the  prayer-answering  God.  by  fresh  exercises  of  His  creative 
power,  introduces  from  time  to  time  new  energies  into  the 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  29 

natural  system,  and  thereby  produces  results  different  from 
those  which  would  have  occurred  under  the  normal  conditions 
of  cosmic  changes  and  movements.  The  apologists  are  not 
dismayed  by  the  fact  that  the  miracle  conllicts  with  the  axiom 
that  the  siun  of  energy  in  the  world  is  incapable  of  increase 
or  diminution,  or  with  the  allegation  that  there  is  no  sure 
evidence  that  energy  has  ever  been  increased  by  supernatural 
intervention,  and  that  bodies  have  been  made  to  behave  other- 
wise than  in  consistency  with  their  natural  qualities  and  poten- 
cies. To  this  the  reply  is  frequently  made  that  the  laws  of  the 
scientists  are  merely  empirical  generalisations,  and  that  it  is 
unwarrantable  to  argue  on  the  assumption  that  they  possess 
a  universal  and  necessary  validity  such  as  can  be  claimed  for 
the  laws  of  thought  or  for  moral  principles.  It  is  also  pointed 
out,  or  at  least  felt  by  many,  that  by  the  same  process  of 
reasoning  it  may  be  shown  that  the  human  w'll  itself  has  no 
claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  true  cause  in  the  realm  of  material 
phenomena  —  that  all  our  bodily  actions  are  explainable,  as 
indeed  the  materialist  frankly  holds,  as  the  necessary  con- 
sequences of  predestined  changes  in  the  external  world,  and 
that  the  mind  is  a  mere  casual  concomitant  which,  because  it 
is  aware  of  the  activities  of  the  body  and  their  consequences, 
presumptuously  imagines  that  it  does  something  to  produce 
them.  It  is,  however,  and  will  remain  the  ineradicable  con- 
viction of  human  beings,  that  even  though  the  world  in  which 
they  live  is  under  law,  and  though  scientists  draw  unfavourable 
inferences  from  their  doctrine  of  the  conserv^ation  of  energy, 
a  man  actually  gets  things  done,  including  compliance  with 
requests  made  to  him,  by  the  mental  act  of  willing  to  do  them, 
and  through  the  energies  which  he  thus  sets  to  w^ork,  and  no 
convincing  reason  can  be  given  to  those  who  believe  that  their 
human  volitions  are  a  vera  causa  for  disbelieving  that  God 
possesses  a  similar  power  of  guiding  or  originating  events  by 
the  determinations  of  His  infinitely  more  powerful  will.  The 
miraculous  conception,  it  may  be  added,  though  it  is  not  always 
clearly  formulated,  appears  to  be  the  hypothesis  as  to  the 
Divine  modus  operandi  which  is  entertained  by  the  majority 
of  devout  Christian  thinkers. 

The  principle  of  the  unifomiity  of  natural  law  may,  how- 
ever, be  held  with  a  reservation.  An  example  is  the  once 
famous  hypothesis  of  Chalmers  who  suggested  that  the  laws 
of  nature  are  at  least  so  much  respected  that  the  miraculous 
agency  is  only  introduced  at  some  point  at  which  it  cannot 


30  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

be  detected.  "  One  may  contend,"  he  says,  "  for  the  direct 
intervention  of  a  fiat  from  the  court  of  Heaven's  sovereignty 
—  whose  first  influence  is  on  some  occult  antecedent  in  the 
upper  places  of  the  train,  and  whose  subsequent  influences 
descend  in  regular  order,  perhaps  through  many  visible  steps 
to  the  final  accomplishment."  ^  This  hypothesis  seems  to  have 
occurred  independently  to  some  of  our  writers.  But  the  sug- 
gestion that  a  miracle  is  admissible,  provided  only  that  pre- 
cautions are  taken  by  God  to  avoid  wounding  scientific  suscep- 
tibilities, is  a  compromise  which  is  more  ingenious  than  con- 
vincing. 

As  an  ofifshoot  from  the  miraculous  theory,  with  which 
it  agrees  in  breaking  with  the  principle  of  purely  natural  causa- 
tion, may  be  mentioned  the  postulate  of  angelic  ministiy.  On 
a  comparison  of  the  references  to  angels  in  the  topical  index 
with  the  index  of  the  Siunma  Theologica  of  Thomas  Aquinas, 
it  appears  that  the  modern  interest  in  angelology  is  slight  in- 
deed as  compared  with  the  interest  of  mediaeval  piety.  There 
are,  however,  one  or  two  essays  which,  with  beauty  as  well 
as  boldness  of  thought,  develop  a  doctrine  of  angelic  powers, 
and  maintain  that  these  are  ministering  servants  who  play 
a  great  part  in  the  transmission  and  in  the  answering  of 
human  petitions. 

3.  A  second  type  of  hypothesis  accepts  the  scientific  gen- 
eralisation, but  holds  it  to  be  reconcilable  with  Divine  answers 
to  prayer.  Its  exponents  acquiesce  in  the  view  that  at  least 
the  material  realm  is  a  closed  system,  in  which  all  events  take 
place  as  the  necessary  consequences  of  antecedent  causes  — 
the  chain  of  which  causes  goes  back  to  the  primeval  order  of 
things;  but  it  is  conceived  that  God  in  the  beginning  had 
foreknowledge  of  all  prayers  which  human  beings  would 
offer,  and  that  He  so  arranged  the  cosmic  forces  that  at  the 
appropriate  moment  they  should  work  out  the  ansv/ers  to 
those  prayers  which  He  had  decreed  to  answer.  "  God  does 
not  require,"  to  quote  a  classic  exponent,  "  to  interfere  with 
His  own  arrangements,  for  there  is  an  answer  provided  in  the 
arrangement  made  by  Him  from  all  eternity;  when  the  ques- 
tion is  asked,  'How  does  God  answ^er  prayer?'  we  give  the 
repl}^  it  is  by  a  pre-ordained  appointment,  when  God  ordained 
the  constitution  of  the  world  and  set  all  its  parts  in  order."  ^ 

In  the  first  half   of    last  century  this   explanation   had   a 

1  Natural  Theology,  it.  346. 

2  McCosh's  Method  of  the  Divine  Government,  1855,  p.  222. 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  31 

wide  vogue.  As  a  fact,  given  the  full  Christian  presupposi- 
tion of  God,  it  is  not  easy  to  point  out  a  Haw  in  the  argument. 
God  has  knowledge  of  all  future  events,  including  all  prayers: 
why  should  He  not  have  decreed  to  answer  these  through  the 
instrumentality  of  a  cosmic  process  governed  by  natural  causa- 
tion, provided  that  He  prudently  disposed  the  primordial  ar- 
rangements which  held  in  germ  all  that  was  to  happen  in  the 
material  realm?  It  may  be  objected  that,  as  the  answer  is 
pre-ordained,  the  prayer  is  supcrtluous;  but  it  is  rq^lied  that 
as  the  prayer  also  was  foreordained,  or  at  least  foreknown,  it 
cannot  be  allowed  to  drop  out  of  the  scheme,  and  if  it  does, 
it  is  evidence  that  neither  was  the  answer  foreordained.  In 
any  case,  if  the  foreordination  of  the  answer  makes  the  prayer 
superfluous,  human  effort  of  every  kind  may  equally  seem 
superfluous,  and  few,  if  any,  are  prepared  to  accept  this  in- 
ference. But  satisfactory  as  this  hypothesis  seems  on  intellec- 
tual grounds,  it  is  remarkable  how  little  appeal  it  makes  to 
the  religious  man  of  the  present  day  as  revealed  in  the 
essays.  There  are  traces  of  the  train  of  thought,  but  most 
seem  to  be  ignorant  of  its  controversial  use,  and  none  develop 
it  with  the  obvious  conviction  and  pleasure  that  were  shown 
by  the  nineteenth-century  apologists.  One  reason  doubtless 
is  that  the  general  religious  mind  of  our  generation  no  longer 
finds  itself  at  home  in  the  predestinarian  scheme  of  thought, 
and  does  not  care  —  hardly  even  knows  how  —  to  do  the 
details  of  its  thinking  in  terms  of  Calvinism.  Moreover,  even 
those  who  adhere  to  the  predestinarian  doctrines  do  so  mainly 
because  belief  in  election  gives  them  comfort  in  the  matter 
of  their  individual  salvation,  and  also  because  foreordination 
ensures  the  triumph  of  God's  cause,  but  they  do  not  find  that 
it  inspires  them  with  greater  ardour  in  prayer.  Rather  does 
it  bewilder  them  to  reflect  that  all  things  were  settled,  includ- 
ing their  prayers,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

3.  A  third  type  of  theory  recognises  the  uniformity  of 
nature,  but  makes  room  for  answers  to  prayer  by  assuming 
that  there  is  a  prayer-force  which  falls  to  be  included  in  any 
comprehensive  view  of  the  energies  and  the  laws  of  nature. 
This  force  does  its  own  work  in  its  own  way,  but  does  not 
violate  natural  law,  any  more  than  magnetism  violates  the 
law  of  gravitation  when  it  checks  or  cancels  the  tendency  of  a 
body  to  fall  to  the  ground.  This  theory  may  be  held  either  in 
a  theistic  or  in  a  non-theistic  setting.  It  was  propounded  by 
Chalmers  as  one  of  his  alternatives  in  these  terms :  "  that  the 


32  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

effect  of  prayer  on  some  hidden  term  of  that  progression 
which  has  led  to  the  wished- for  result  may  itself  be,  as  much 
as  any  other,  one  of  the  regular  sequences  of  nature"  {op. 
cit.).  The  following  theosophic  conception  of  prayer-force 
may  be  quoted :  "  We  are  all  living  in  a  great  ocean  of  mind- 
power  wherein  the  waves  of  mentative  action  are  passing  on 
all  sides.  The  vibrational  activity  set  up  in  our  mind  at  the 
time  of  a  deep  and  earnest  sentiment  passes  on  its  vibrations  to 
this  ocean  of  mind-power,  producing  currents  or  waves  which 
travel  on  until  they  reach  the  mind  of  other  individuals  who 
reach  them  as  if  by  induction.  Thus  our  religious  influence 
passes  on  to  other  people  who  are  receptive  to  our  feelings. 
Just  as  this  mentative  current  passes  on  to  other  people,  so 
prayer  which  is  an  earnest  desire  emanating  from  a  wor- 
shipper, acts  upon  the  universal  mind-power  which  sends  a 
response  to  the  same." 

To  some  extent  this  coincides  with  the  telepathic  construc- 
tion already  referred  to,  as  it  refers  chiefly  to  influences  which 
pass  from  mind  to  mind,  but  it  goes  beyond  it  in  its  concep- 
tion of  a  central  ocean  of  spiritual  wealth  into  which  all  true 
prayers  flow,  as  well  as  all  pure  thoughts  and  all  noble  aspira- 
tions. The  theory  as  held  by  some  also  involves  the  possibility 
of  the  incursion  of  mental  force  with  shaping  and  directing 
energy  into  the  realm  of  atoms  and  cells.  From  the  Christian 
standpoint,  the  chief  objection  made  is  that  it  degrades  prayer 
to  the  level  of  a  natural  and  even  of  a  magical  power;  that 
there  is  difficulty  in  relating  the  prayer- force  to  the  conception 
of  God  as  a  free  Being;  and  that,  in  any  case,  it  tends  to 
displace  life-giving  faith  in  the  living  God  by  an  animistic 
credulity  as  to  the  potencies  of  a  sort  of  sublimated  and  spirit- 
ualised electrical  energy.  An  occasional  Christian  philoso- 
pher, however,  who  does  his  thinking  about  the  external  world 
in  terms  of  the  Berkeleian  or  kindred  systems,  thinks  this 
judgement  too  harsh,  finds  it  credible  that  the  human  mind 
can  do  unsuspected  work  in  a  world  in  which  all  facts  are  ulti- 
mately mental,  and  also  finds  it  no  stumbling-block  that  a  meas- 
ure of  this  penetrative  power,  in  addition  to  the  other  mental 
powers,  should  have  been  grafted  on  the  human  constitution. 

(v.)   Subjective  Conditions  and  Proved  Methods  of 

Effectual  Prayer 

The  conditions  which  are  mentioned,  illustrated,  and  com- 
mended, include  the  following  —  trust,  humility,  perseverance, 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  33 

reverence,  patience,  simplicity,  definiteness,  earnestness,  un- 
selfishness, submission,  a  sense  of  fellowship,  obedience  to  the 
Divine  commandments,  and  a  recognition  of  the  mediation  of 
the  approach  to  God  through  Christ.  For  guidance  in  this 
matter  recourse  was  very  generally  had  to  the  prayers  of 
Scripture,  especially  to  the  prayers  of  our  Lord,  which  in  many 
cases  were  studied  with  great  minuteness  and  nuich  spiritual 
insight.  In  harmony  with  the  Biblical  teaching  and  examples, 
the  topic  which  bulks  by  far  the  most  largely  is  the  need  of 
faith  and  confidence  in  God.  Faith,  it  is  very  commonly 
held,  is  indispensable,  and  response  is  "  according  to  faith." 
Next  to  faith,  though  at  a  considerable  remove,  emphasis  is 
laid  on  huimility.  Humble  confession  of  sin,  according  to  one 
writer,  ever  "  makes  prayer  omnipotent."  Much  stress  is  also 
laid  on  perseverance.  From  one  group  of  essays  there  comes 
a  caveat  against  the  assmnption  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to 
pray  without  ceasing,  and  it  is  asserted  that  "  successful 
prayer  like  all  other  mental  faculties  requires  to  be  developed, 
and  that  all  individuals  are  not  equally  endowed  with  it."  The 
view  is  often  expressed  that  a  liberal  conception  must  be 
formed  of  what  constitutes  prayer,  as  is  well  summed  up  in 
the  following  quotation :  "  Prayer  in  an  all-inclusive  sense 
means  seeking  beyond  the  self,  striving  towards  an  ideal  that 
is  not  of  the  self.  It  is  undeniable  that,  apart  from  any  formal 
prayer,  the  holding  of  a  great  selfless  ideal,  and  the  seeking 
and  the  striving  with  one's  whole  being  to  realise  and  to  fulfil 
it,  through  whatever  labour,  and  at  whatever  sacrifice,  is  of 
the  nature  of  prayer.  If  the  ideal  is  of  God,  help,  guidance, 
and  strength  will  as  surely  come  from  God.  The  worker  who 
has,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  a  God-given  ideal  in  his 
heart,  and  strives  to  attain  it,  is  a  worker  for  God."  Tlie  great 
majority  of  the  essayists,  however,  attach  much  importance  to 
the  conscious  direction  of  the  mind  to  God.  The  conscious 
appeal  to  God  is  generally  held  to  be  presupposed  in  true  prayer, 
and  is  very  definitely  advocated  by  the  large  number  who  deem 
it  of  vital  importance  that  prayer  should  be  offered  in  Christ's 
name,  i.e.  with  realised  dependence  on  the  mediatorial  work  of 
the  Saviour  of  mankind. 

Much  space  is  given,  in  certain  groups  of  essays,  to  methods 
or  rules  of  prayer.  The  practice  in  the  average  life  of  devout 
Christians  is  reflected  in  counsels  as  to  private,  family,  and 
social  prayer,  and  also  in  regard  to  appropriate  times  and  sea- 
sons, with  earnest  commendation  of  the  golden  opportunities 


34  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  the  morning  and  the  evening  hour.  There  is,  in  addition, 
evidence  that  many  are  in  quest  of  extraordinary  methods 
that  promise  more  intense  and  sustained  experiences  than  are 
enjoyed  in  commonplace  Christian  experiences.  Some  have 
investigated  the  records  of  the  practice  of  the  Christian  saints, 
and  have  also  sought  to  learn  from  the  practice  of  Oriental 
ascetics.  A  few  have  a  misgiving  that  much  has  been  lost  by 
the  dissociation  of  prayer  from  fasting.  Perhaps  the  most 
noticeable  feature  of  this  section  is  the  growing  commendation 
of  the  prayer  of  silence  in  which  the  doors  and  windows  of  the 
soul  are  expectantly  thrown  open  to  the  gracious  influences 
which  stream  in  from  the  light  and  the  life  of  God.  It  is 
evident  that  the  rule  of  the  Friends  is  practised  far  beyond 
their  particular  communion. 


(vi.)   The  Problem  of  Unanswered  Prayer 

The  ground  on  which  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  petitions  usu- 
ally rests,  as  has  been  said,  is  that  there  has  been  convincing 
experience,  either  in  one's  own  life  or  in  the  observed  events 
of  other  lives,  that  God  is  the  hearer  and  the  answerer  of 
prayer.  But  it  is  also  matter  of  experience,  often  of  repeated, 
disheartening,  and  maybe  desolating  experience,  that  prayers 
do  not  evoke  the  expected  response,  even  when  the  boon 
craved  seems  to  be  legitimate,  and  when  the  subjective  condi- 
tions do  not  seem  to  have  been  neglected  or  transgressed.  Nat- 
urally, therefore,  most  of  the  essays  deal  somewhat  fully  with 
the  problem  of  unanswered  prayer. 

The  explanations  of  the  withholding  of  an  answer  to  prayer 
may  be  conveniently  grouped  as  follows.  The  answer  may 
be  supposed  to  be  withheld,  temporarily  or  permanently,  for 
one  or  more  of  the  following  reasons : 

1.  Because   the   petition   is   out   of   harmony   with   the   will   of   God, 

(a)   as  a  holy  and  loving  will,  or 

(&)   as   restricted  by  self-imposed  limitations   in  His   relation 
to  the  universe. 

2.  Because   of   failure   to    fulfil   the   subjective   conditions    required, 

which  are  either 
(a)   conditions  attached  by   God  according  to  His  own  good 

pleasure,  or 
(&)   conditions   needed    to    constitute   the   necessary   spiritual 
receptivity. 

3.  Because  the  granting  of  the  petition   would  not,   and  the  post- 

ponement or  withholding  would,  promote  the  true  well-being 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  35 

of  the  suppliant  as  seen  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Divine 
holiness  and  love. 

4.  Because  a  favourable  answer  would  conflict  with  the  interests  of 

others  who  have  the  same  claim  on  God,  and  perhaps  a 
greater  need. 

5.  Because  the  fulfilment  of  the  petition  would  be  inconsistent  with 

other  petitions  which  are  offered  by  the  suppliant  either  in 
the  form  of  words,  or  as  the  inarticulate  prayer  which  comes 
before  God  through  the  general  attitude  and  spirit  of  the 
life  of  the  worshipper. 

One  of  the  "  readers  "  who  has  specially  studied  this  part 
of  the  discussion  has  reported  as  follows : 

"  Many  prayers  are  not  answered.  To  simple  folk  the 
fact  —  a  great  truth  rather  —  that  God  knows  best  is  an  all- 
sufficient  explanation.  Others  account  for  such  failure  by 
saying  that  the  prayer  cannot  have  been  '  sincere  enough,' 
others  that '  no  '  is  as  truly  an  answer  from  God  as  '  yes  '  would 
have  been ;  others  that,  because  Jesus  has  promised  it,  the 
answer  is  bound  to  come,  if  not  now,  then  in  some  future 
state  of  existence.  One  or  two  of  the  writers  suggest  that 
when  we  pray  for  something  —  the  protection  of  some 
soldier  at  the  front,  let  us  say  —  and  his  life,  after  all,  is 
not  spared  to  us,  then  what  we  really  wished  for  was  otir 
friend's  '  highest  good,'  and  God,  Whose  wisdom  we  cannot 
question,  can  still  be  said  to  have  answered  our  prayer.  One 
of  the  finest  and  most  striking  explanations  is  to  be  found  in 
the  essay  of  a  Chinese  missionary,  a  deeply  thoughtful  student 
of  the  Bible,  who  says  that  if  we  consider  how  contradictory 
our  prayers  are,  we  must  see  that  the  cause  'of  unanswered 
prayer  must  often  be  that  we  have  blocked  the  possibility  of 
our  requests  being  answered  by  our  previous  desires  and  peti- 
tions for  something  else.  Among  the  *  causes  which  block  the 
possibility  '  of  answer  to  some  prayers,  the  Eastern  and  The- 
osophist  essays  assume  long-past  causes  set  agoing  by  an  in- 
dividual in  some  former  life,  in  one  of  his  previous  incar- 
nations." 

From  the  definitely  Christian  point  of  view,  the  chief  stress  ^/ 
is  naturally  and  properly  laid  on  the  consideration  that,  from 
the  vantage-ground  of  His  holy  Fatherhood,  God  sees  things 
otherwise,  and  that  He  will  often  withhold  the  inferior  and 
temporary  for  the  sake  of  the  higher  and  lasting  good.  The 
Christian  mind  also,  while  unwilling  to  confess  that  we  are  ^ 
straitened  in  God,  necessarily  grants  that  the  power  of  God 
does  not  include  the  power  to  do  things  which  are  inconsistent 


36  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

with  one  another,  and  will  often,  as  above  pointed  out,  per- 
ceive that  the  granting  of  a  prayer  would  involve  God  or 
ourselves  in  a  contradiction.  On  the  other  hand,  while  there 
is  an  element  of  truth  in  the  view  that  there  are  conditions 
of  mind  and  heart  which  close  the  door  against  spiritual 
influences,  the  evangelical  thinkers,  in  view  of  experiences  like 
those  of  St.  Paul  and  of  Augustine,  are  properly  chary  of 
prescribing  limits  to  the  power  of  Divine  grace  to  break  down 
barriers,  and  to  make  its  way,  even  against  stubborn  opposi- 
tion, into  the  very  citadel  of  the  soul. 

The  view  is  prevalent  in  the  modern  world  —  more  so  than 
these  essays  reveal  —  that  man  has  been  placed  on  this  earth 
on  the  express  footing  that  he  is  to  work  out  for  himself  a 
salvation  —  at  least  such  salvation  as  is  available  for  him  —  in 
exclusive  reliance  on  the  resources  of  his  natural  endowment. 
The  point  and  the  interest  of  the  drama  of  human  history,  it  is 
often  thought,  just  lies  in  the  fact  that  man  was  launched  on 
his  career  under  conditions  of  extraordinary  difficulty,  dan- 
ger, and  distress,  and  that  he  was  given  sufficient  equipment 
for  coping  with  them,  and  at  the  same  time  educating  him- 
self, in  his  possession  of  the  splendid  powers  and  capacities 
with  which  he  was  clothed  by  the  Creator.  The  glory  of 
human  history,  which  is  no  poor  offset  to  its  scandals,  is  held 
to  lie  in  this — that  he  made  such  a  use  of  his  original  gifts 
that  he  has  established  his  dominion  over  the  creatures,  sub- 
dued the  earth,  elaborated  economic  and  political  systems, 
created  arts,  science,  and  philosophy,  waged  an  increasingly 
victorious  warfare  against  disease  and  death,  worked  out  a 
progressive  morality,  and  on  the  whole  justified  the  confidence 
which  was  reposed  in  him  by  the  Creator.  It  is  not  open 
to  dispute  that  this  describes  at  least  one  aspect  or  department 
of  man's  condition  on  earth.  God  entrusted  him  with  great 
and  manifold  talents,  and  his  well-being  and  happiness  were 
made  largely  dependent  on  the  diligence  and  fidelity  with  which 
he  was  to  discharge  his  stewardship.  But  this  is  certainly 
not  the  whole  truth  about  the  relation  of  God  to  the  human 
race  in  its  long  history,  its  arduous  struggles,  and  its  splendid 
achievements.  The  universality  of  religion,  which  could  not 
have  come  into  existence  or  continued  to  exist  had  it  served 
no  real  purpose  for  man,  is  only  intelligible  on  the  supposition 
that  the  human  race  knows  through  its  best  representatives 
that  in  God  it  lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being,  that  life- 


THE  CONTEMPORARY  MIND  37 

giving  communion  with  Him  is  a  reality,  and  that  the  highest 
good  is  only  won  in  union  with  God.  I'urther,  when  we  take 
long  and  comparative  views  of  the  history  of  the  race,  we  dis- 
cover periods  of  spiritual  revival  and  of  moral  regeneration 
which  have  their  most  natural  explanation  in  the  fact  that  the 
Divine  Spirit  —  while  never  far  from  humanity  —  has  alterna- 
tions of  coming  and  going  which  are  at  least  relatively  of  the 
character  of  visits  and  desertions.  At  chosen  times  and  places 
the  Spirit  blows,  and  a  race  or  a  generation  is  enriched  with 
an  unwonted  wealth  of  light  and  life  and  spiritual  power.  For 
this  view  Christendom  stands  sponsor,  with  its  tract  of  sacred 
history  and  its  central  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  In  addi- 
tion, it  would  seem  that  God  is  evermore  doing  new  things 
in  the  gift  to  the  world  of  great  men  and  of  saints  —  prob- 
ably also  in  the  creation  of  every  individual  soul  that  comes 
into  the  w'orld  furnished  with  its  unique  character  and  its 
trailing  clouds  of  glory.  Further,  in  the  doing  of  the  work 
of  the  world,  the  most  important  thing  is  the  personality  of 
the  men  and  women  w^ho  lay  their  hands  to  the  tasks,  and 
the  deeps  of  personality  ever  lie  close  to  the  influences  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  To  all  this  falls  to  be  added  the  testimony 
of  the  innumerable  multitude  who  believe  that  God  lives  and 
works  in  the  world  because  they  have  met  Him  in  answer  to 
prayer,  and  because  in  communion  with  Him  they  find  power 
to  overcome  their  temptations  and  to  carry  their  cross. 

The  decisive  argument  from  experience  is  reflected  in  the 
counsels  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  which,  a  writer  says,  have 
enabled  him  to  confront  life's  dangers  and  solve  its  problems: 

"  Strive  to  see  God  in  all  things  without  exception,  and 
acquiesce  in  His  will  with  absolute  submission.  Do  every- 
thing for  God,  uniting  yourself  to  Him  by  a  mere  upward 
glance,  or  by  the  overflowing  of  your  heart  towards  Him. 
Never  l)e  in  a  hurry ;  do  everything  quietly  and  in  a  calm  spirit. 
Do  not  lose  your  inward  peace  for  anything  whatsoever,  even 
if  your  whole  world  seems  upset.  Commend  all  to  God,  and 
then  lie  still  and  be  at  rest  in  His  bosom.  Whatever  happens, 
abide  steadfast  in  a  determination  to  cling  simply  to  God,  trust- 
ing in  His  eternal  love  for  you;  and  if  you  find  that  you  have 
Avandered  forth  from  His  shelter,  recall  your  heart  quietly  and 
simply.  Maintain  a  holy  simplicity  of  mind,  and  do  not 
smother  yourself  with  a  host  of  cares,  wishes,  or  longings, 
under  any  pretext."  ^ 

3  A  5f/v*c.*><"»  from  the  Sffrittti^l  Letters  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  1880,  p.  197. 


II 

PRAYER  — ITS  MEANING,  REALITY, 
AND  POWER 

BY 

The    Rev.    SAMUEL    McCOMB,    D.D. 

AUTHOR    OF    "the    future    LIFE    IN    THE    LIGHT    OP    MODERN     INQUIRY,"    ETC. 


II 

PRAYER  —  ITS  MEANING,  REALITY,  AND 

POWER 

Introduction 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  in  the  modern  history  of 
man  is  the  rediscovery  of  prayer.  It  is  true  that,  in  some  sense, 
prayer  is  as  old  and  universal  as  the  human  spirit,  but  its 
significance  and  scope  vary  for  each  age,  and  its  inner  secret 
must  be  won  afresh  and  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  ever- 
deepening  knowledge  of  nature  and  life.  To-day,  we  are 
witnessing  a  spiritual  reaction  against  the  hard,  if  brilliant, 
materialistic  philosophy  of  a  generation  ago.  Signs  of  this 
reaction  were  evident  some  years  before  the  Great  War  broke 
upon  the  world.  Professional  teachers  of  religion  of  all 
schools,  liberal  and  conservative,  discussed  prayer  with  a  new 
note  of  conviction,  and  commended  it  as  an  act  expressive  of 
the  normal  relations  of  man  and  God.  But  still  more  striking 
is  the  fact  that  men  of  the  highest  distinction  in  the  realms  of 
thought,  imagination,  and  practical  enterprise,  such  as  Tenny- 
son, Meredith,  James,  Myers,  Stevenson,  Lodge,  Lecky,  H. 
M.  Stanley,  and  Cecil  Rhodes,  joined  their  voices  to  the 
chorus  inviting  us  to  pray.  If  men  still  refused  to  pray, 
it  was  not  because  of  any  embargo  placed  by  rational 
thought  or  practical  experience  on  the  commerce  of  the 
soul  with  a  larger  spiritual  world.  The  root  of  their 
failure  must  be  traced  rather  to  a  moral  inertia,  which  they 
could  not  or  would  not  break  dowm. 

The  war  has  raised  the  question  of  prayer  with  a  fresh 
poignancy.  Think  of  the  struggling  nations  praying  to  the 
same  God,  and  each  invoking  His  aid  against  the  other. 
Think  of  the  myriad  prayers  going  up  perpetually  for  fathers, 
brothers,  sons,  lovers  —  prayers  born  of  an  agony  that  can 
brook  no  refusal.  Think  how  faith  in  a  living  and  loving 
Power  —  the  necessary  presupposition  of  all  real  prayer  — 
has  been  shaken  to  its  very  foundations  in  the  presence  of 
the  nameless  horrors  that  appal  humanity !     No  wonder  that 

41 


42  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

to  some  the  thought  of  prayer  in  a  world  such  as  this,  gov- 
erned, it  would  seem,  by  an  ironic  Fate,  sounds  the  veriest 
mockery.  "  If  I  hadn't  given  up  prayer  as  a  habit,  this  war 
would  certainly  have  made  me  do  so,"  writes  an  earnest  and 
sincere  man,  and  his  words  find  an  echo  in  many  despairful 
hearts.  Yet  history  warns  us  that  this  is  not,  and  cannot  be, 
the  last  word  on  the  matter.  For  prayer  has  survived  great 
y^  world-convulsions  in  the  past;  it  has  even  found  nutriment  for 
its  life  in  the  calamities  that  appeared  to  put  it  to 
permanent  confusion.  Men  have,  felt,  amid  the  crash 
of  falling  empires,  that  while  all  else  failed  them,  the 
supreme  realities  of  the  spiritual  world  remained  stead- 
fast, and  that  on  them  they  could  build  up  their  lives 
afresh.  The  events  of  our  own  time,  marking  as  they  do 
an  upheaval  throughout  the  entire  life  of  Western  civilisa- 
tion, and  indeed  of  the  whole  world,  will  unquestionably 
affect  the  theory  of  prayer  by  dissipating  traditional  ideas  that 
'  too  often  obscure  the  inwardness  and  reality  of  the  act;  but 
prayer  itself  will  probably  renew  its  energies,  and  so  vindicate 
its  power  that,  before  many  decades  have  passed,  few  men  will 
be  found  to  disbelieve  in  its  truth  and  value. 

I.     The  Presuppositions  of  Prayer 

— -^  What  then  do  we  mean  by  prayer?  Let  it  be  confessed  at 
once  that  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  cut  and  dried  answer  to  this 
question.  How  can  we  logicall)'-  define  an  act  or  a  state  in 
which  the  finite  and  the  infinite  mingle,  in  which  the 
deepest  motives  of  the  soul  are  set  free  to  work  far- 
reaching  moral  and  spiritual  transformations?  Viewed 
even  as  a  psychological  event,  we  find  in  prayer  a  puzzle  which 
no  logic,  but  only  experience,  can  resolve;  for  the  soul  that 
genuinely  prays  is  at  once  passive  and  active,  makes  an  as- 
sertion of  individuality  and  at  the  same  time  achieves  utmost 
surrender  to  Another.  Still,  while  we  cannot  frame  a  rigor- 
ous formula  within  which  prayer  in  all  its  heights  and  depths 
may  be  imprisoned,  we  can  mark  many  of  its  essential  features 
and  in  some  degree  understand  the  method  of  its  working. 
Perhaps  the  best  way  to  reach  the  heart  of  the  matter  is  to 
^  recall  what  modern  men  who  represent  different  points  of  view 
have  to  say  as  to  what  prayer  essentially  means.  For  this  pur- 
pose we  shall  select  a  philosophical  student  of  religion,  a  psy- 
chologist, a  man  of  letters,  and  a  natural  scientist.     Auguste 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  43 

Sabatier  describes  prayer  as  "  the  movement  of  the  soul  putting 
itself  into  personal  relation  and  contact  with  the  mysterious 
power  whose  presence  it  feels  even  before  it  is  able  to  give  it 
a  name."  ^     For  William  James  prayer  is  "  intercourse  with 
an    Ideal    Companion."  ^     "  Energy    which    1)Ut    for    prayer 
would  be  bound  is  by  prayer  set  free  and  operates  in  some 
part,  be  it  objective  or  subjective,  of  the  world  of  experienced 
phenomena  or   facts."  ^     "  We  dream  alone,"   writes  Amiel, 
"  we  suffer  alone,  we  die  alone,  we  inhabit  the  last  resting- 
place  alone.     But  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  us  from  opening 
our  solitude  to  God.     And  so  what  was  an  austere  monologue 
becomes   dialogue."  *     "  By  prayer   I   understand,"   says   Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  "  that  when  our  spirits  are  attuned  to  the  spirit 
of  righteousness,  our  hopes  and  aspirations  exert  an  influence 
far  beyond  their  conscious  range,  and,  in  a  true  sense,  bring 
us    into    communion    with    our    Heavenly    Father."  ^     Such 
conceptions  mark  the  culmination  of  a  long  histor}',  from  the 
efforts  of  savage  man  to  bend  the  will  of  higher  powers  by 
magical  incantations  to  the  silence  of  the  mystic  who  would 
lose  his  own  self-centred  being  in  the  vision  of  the  Eternal. 
fEven  the  cnidest  prayer  has  not  been  without  some  good  to 
(him  who  prayed  —  else  the  impulse  to  pray  would  long  since 
/have  atrophied  by  disuse.     Hence,  we  may  say  that  the  whole 
/  evolution  of  prayer  has  been   the  working  of  the  brooding 
)  Spirit  of  the  universe.  Who  would  thereby  lead  men  from  lower 
I  to  higher  stages  of  life  and  well-being. 

Prayer  is  often  defined  as  "  loving  fellowship  with  God," 
buTpraver  is  possible  where  the  sense  of  the  Di\ine  presence  is  j 
hardlyT  if  at  all,  developed.     Or  agamT  it  is  "petition."  the| 
reverent  setting  forth  of  our  needs  and  the  asking  of  some  def-' 
inite  boon,   material  or  spiritual,   but  it   is  possible  to  prayi 
without  seeking  any  specific  good  or  supplicating  any  con- 
crete gift.     "  I  have  prayed  to  God."  writes  Tolstoi,  "  but  if 
one  defined  prayer  as  a  petition  or  a  thanksgiving,  then  I  did 
not  pray.     I  asked,  and,  at  the  same  time,   felt  that  I  had 
nothing  to  ask.   ...  I  thanked   Him,   but  not  in  words  or 
thought."  ^     So.  once  more,  prayer  is,  as  the  hvmn  says,  "  the 
soul's   sincere  desire,   uttered  or  unexpressed."     Yet,   some- 1 
times,  prayer  is  the  absorption  of  such  desire  in  new  desires/ 

1  Outlines  of  a  Philosophy  of  Religion   (Eng.  Trans.),  p.   28. 

2  Psychology   (Briefer   Course),  p.    192. 

3  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,   p.   466. 

4  Amiel's  Journal  Intimc,  translated  by  Mrs.   Humphry  Ward,  p.   289    (Macmillan). 

5  A  Confession  of  Faith. 

8  A.  Maude,  Life  of  Tolstoi,  vol.  i.,  pp.  63-64. 


i 


44  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

which  are  born  in  the  very  act  of  praying,  and  which  the  soul 
appropriates  as  alone  worthy  of  satisfaction.  —Christ'?  -ptayer, 
"  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done,"  points  to  this  great  achieve- 
ment of  the  soul  in  contact  with'  God.  There  is  the  particu- 
lar wish,  but  it  ought  always  to  be  conditioned  by  a  deeper  and 
more  intimate  wish;  that  is,  by  the  wish  that  the  good  of  the 
whole,  the  furtherance  of  the  cause  and  purpose  of  God  in 
the  world,  may  be  secured.  If  the  particular  wish  is  incon- 
sistent with  this  cosmic  design,  then  it  ceases  to  be  the  wish  of 
the  suppliant.  Here  we  find  the  answer  to  the  difficulty  al- 
ready noticed,  that  afforded  by  the  spectacle  of  nations  at  war 
calling  on  the  same  God  to  give  the  victory  each  to  its  own 
side.  Such  prayers,  in  so  far  as  they  are  according  to  the 
mind  of  Christ,  are  uttered  with  an  explicit  or  implicit  condi- 
tion. He  who  prays  for  the  victory  of  his  people,  does  not 
pray,  or  ought  not  to  pray,  that  they  may  be  victorious  irre- 
spective of  whether  their  cause  is  just  or  unjust,  or  whether 
their  triumph  would  mean  good  or  evil  to  the  world.  Doubt- 
less he  believes  that  his  nation  is  on  the  side  of  righteousness, 
but  he  may  be  mistaken,  and  could  this  be  proved  to  him  to 
be  the  Divine  judgement,  he,  too,  would  say,  "  Not  my  will,  but 
'Thine,  be  done." 

Prayer  in  its  most  developed  form,  as  it  comes  from  an 
enlightened  mind  and  a  will  intent  on  righteousness,  implies 
certain  great  convictions,  whether  these  convictions  are  con- 
sciously grasped  or  not.  To  begin  with,  the  descriptions  of 
prayer  just  quoted  imply  personality  in  him  who  prays  and  in 
Him  to  Whom  the  prayer  is  offered.  Prayer  is  logically  im- 
possible on  a  pantheistic  basis.  For,  if  God  is  to  be  identified 
with  the  totality  of  men  and  things,  and  we  are  simply  modes 
of  His  being,  related  to  Him  as  a  drop  to  the  ocean,  it  is 
obvious  that  conscious  fellowship  between  Him  and  us  is  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  H  prayer  is,  as  all  experience  con- 
firms, a  dialogue,  an  intercourse  of  the  human  with  the  Divine, 
man  must  be  able  to  say  both  "  I  "  and  "  Thou."  Here  then 
is  the  vital  question  —  is  God  personal  ?  Does  He  know  Him- 
self, and  is  He  able  to  communicate  His  being  and  thought  to 
other  spirits?  K  so,  the  familiar  line  of  Tennyson  expresses 
the  ultimate  truth : 

--     Speak  to  Him  thou  for  He  hears,  and  Spirit  with   Spirit  can  meet. 

You  may  say,  if  you  please,  that  personality  as   applied  to 
God  is  at  best  a  symbol  of  some  higher  and  for  us  inexpres- 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  45 

sible  reality.  Granted;  but  it  is  the  highest  symbol  that  we 
can  conceive.  Not  by  surrendering  it.  but  by  enlarging  and 
purifying  it,  shall  we  be  the  gainers.  Whatever  is  hard  and 
exclusive  and  arbitrary  about  the  notion  of  personality  should 
be  dissolved  away  in  the  vision  of  universal  forces  that  are 
operative  in  the  smallest  as  in  the  greatest  things  of  earth. 

Refusing  to  think  of  C,od  as  personal,  we  must   fall  back 
oiTTnipcrsonal  nnulcs  of  thou^lil,  ^uch  as  Arnold's  "  Power-      V 
hot-ourselvcs,"     or     Emerson's     "  Uvcr-Soul,"     or     Spencer's 
'"  Eternal  I'-nerg}',"  or  Seeley's  "  Natural  Law,"  or  the  Chris- 
tiarT^cientist's  ''  Divine   Principle."     The  superiority  of  the 
idea  of  pcrsonaliiy  over  that  of  law,  or  any  other  non-personal; 
concept  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  renders  possible  a  fellow- 
ship   and   an    intercourse    which    these   cannot    give.     Wheny 
Marcus  Aurelius  prays  to  the  universe,  "  Give  what  thou  wilt,  / 
take  back  what  thou  wilt,"  he  is  compelled  to  personify  the' 
impersonal^,    for   "give "    and    "take"    are   possible   onl}'   to 
personaFbeings.     In  tr\ing  to  grasp  with  the  reason  the  idea 
of  a  Divine  and  infinite  consciousness  we  lose  ourselves  in  a 
fathomless  immensity.     But  we  can  obey  the  practical  maxim 
to  relate  ourselves  to  God  as  we  do  to  a  human  personality,  and 
we  reap  the  benefits  of  obedience. 

Prayer  implies  further  that  there  is  an  organic  connection\ 
bet\ve^rrTh"e"human  and  the^Divine!  Man  is  in  God,  and  God  \ 
is  in  man.  If  we  conceive  of  God  as  far  of?,  in  some  distant 
"parTof  the  universe,  conducting  the  government  of  our  world 
by  means  of  impersonal  laws,  then  prayer  will  be  an  appeal 
across  the  vast  abyss  of  space  for  some  specific  gift,  and  if 
the  thing  desired  fail  to  reach  us,  we  conclude  that  our  prayer 
has  gone  unheard.  But  if  we  entertain  the  conception  that 
we  exist  in  God  somewhat  as  thoughts  exist  in  the  mind,  that 
we  are  wholly  dependent  on  His  activity  and  inwardly  open  ,  v 
to  His  influence,  we  can  see  that  a  strong  desire  in  the  soul 
communicates  itself  to  Him  and  engages  His  attention,  just 
as  a  thought  in  our  soul  engages  ours.  And,  as  we  suppress 
certain  actions  and  thoughts  as  unworthy  or  undesirable,  so, 
too,  we  must  suppose  that  God  declines  to  act  upon  some 
w^ishes  that  we  express  to  Him,  because  they  also  are  not  in 
harmony  with  what  is  best. 

Now,  it  is  because  of  this  profound  and  mutual  indwelling 
of  God  and  man  that  there  is  in  the  human  spirit  the  sense  of      y 
vital  need,  a  yearning  for  some  support  amid  evil  and  dis- 
tress, a  craving  for  companionship  whereby  it  may  overcome 


^ 


/ 


A  / 


46  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  limitations  that  beset  it.  Prayer  springs  out  of  a  deep 
psychological  necessity.  There  are  circumstances  under  which 
we  must  pray  whether  we  will  or  not,  even  though  we  should, 
doubt  whether  there  is  any  ear  open  to  our  cry,  or  any  hand 
strong  enough  to  save.  The  author  of  Jean-Christophe  de- 
scribes the  utter  loneliness  of  soul  which  overtook  his  hero 
when  he  found  himself  in  Paris  without  money  and  without 
friends.  In  his  misery  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees  and 
prayed.  "To  whom  did  he  pray;  to  whom  could  he  pray? 
He  did  not  believe  in  God;  he  believed  there  was  no  God  at 
all.  .  .  .  Still,  he  had  to  pray,  he  had  to  pray  to  himself.  .  .  . 
In  the  muffled  silence  of  his  heart  he  felt  the  presence  of  the 
Eternal    Being,    of    his   God.  .  .  .  He   rose   calm   and   com- 

^forted."  ' 

Prayer  is  thus  the  expression  of  man's  inmost  need,  as  a 

social  being  that  is  incomplete  until  he  fulfils  himself  in  An- 

^yl  I  other.     A  praying  man  is  a  normal  man,  in  right  relations  with 

his   invisible   environment ;    the   man   who    seldom    or   never 

prays  is  abnormal,  his  energies  are  inhibited;  he  is  living  below 

\the  highest  range  of  his  possibilities. 

There  is  a  third  presupposition  of  prayer  which  is,  indeed, 
implied  in  what  has  been  said.  The  world  is  not  a  self- 
contained  whole,  composed  of  self-acting  forces  working  in 
accordance  v/ith  unchangeable  laws.  This  modern  scientific 
conception  is  only  an  abstraction  from  reality ;  it  does  not  ex- 
press the  whole  of  reality;  it  does  not  cover  all  the  facts.  It  is 
neither  the  whole  nor  the  ultimate  truth.  In  other  words, 
science,  for  its  own  purposes,  selects  certain  aspects  of  the 
universe,  confines  its  attention  to  them,  and  excludes  all  spon- 
taneity and  spirituality  from  its  purview  as  irrelevant  to  its 
aims  and  purposes.  Science  is  justified  in  so  doing,  but  the 
inference  that  the  whole  of  reality  is  expressed  by  its  judgements 
is  groundless.  The  thoughtful  believer  in  prayer  believes  also 
in  law,  and  in  the  orderly  development  of  natural  processes. 
If  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  bars  out  prayer,  it  bars  out,  also, 
the  freedom  of  the  will,  which  the  vast  majority  of  men  accept 
as  an  axiom  of  the  practical  life.  Our  failure  to  reconcile 
the  reign  of  law  with  the  exercise  of  moral  freedom  is  no 
barrier  to  worthy  living.  Why,  then,  should  we  suppose  that 
our  failure  to  reconcile  the  fact  of  universal  order  with  the 
impulse  of  the  soul  to  speak  with  the  living  Spirit,  dimly  or 
clearly  felt  to  be  present  in  this  order,  must  silence  or  em- 

7  Romain  Rolland,  Jean-Christophe,  "  La  Foire  sur  la  Place,"  pp.  42-43. 


^ 


• 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  47 


u-^ 


barrass  the  voice  of  prayer?  Prayer  is  a  part  of  the  order  of 
the  world,  and  is  as  constant  as  this  order.  Says  Emerson: 
"  If  you  please  to  plant  yourself  on  the  side  of  Fate  and  say 
Fate  is  all,  then  we  say:  a  part  of  Fate  is  the  freedom  of 
man."  ^  If  you  choose  to  say  that  all  is  law,  we  say  prayer 
is  part  and  parcel  of  the  system  j^overned  in  accordance  with 
law.  You  bow  before  the  reign  of  law  in  the  material  uni- 
verse, why  not  bow  before  the  laws  of  mind  and  man's  spiritual  I 
life?  One  of  these  is  the  prevailing  impulse  that  life  should/ 
seek  its  source  in  God.  ^ 

W'e  may  be  ignorant  of  what  or  how  we  ought  to  ask,  but' 
the  asking,  the  cry  of  the  soul,  is  as  much  a  law  of  life  as  is  the.  ■,^- 
appetite  for  food  and  drink  a  law  of  body.     Whatever  else,     / 
God  may  be,  He  is  at  least  the  eternal  energy  behind  all  naturq ._   v 
andall  law.     When  we  discover  a  rule  in  the  physical  or  mental, 
wofTdwesiniply  discover  a  principle  in  accordance  with  which- 
Godacts.     He  could  act  otherwise,  if  He  so  willedj  without, 
in  the  least  disturbing  the  uniformity  of  nature,  but  observation;^, 
and   reflection  lead  us  to  believe  that  He  does  not  so   will.' 
Hence  wherever  the  will  of  God  is  expressed  unmistakably,  as 
fo£jexample,  in  the  law  of  gravitation,  or  of  the  succession  ol 
the  seasons,  or  of  the  finality  of  death  as_a  temporal  event, 
prayer  has  no  place;  for  prayer  itself  is  a  force  which  acts  in 
harmony  witJi  the  fundairienfal  laziis  of  the  universe.    Jlence 
"Its  realm  is  the  realm  of  the  possible,  not  of  the  impossible 
It  functions  in  those  regions  of  experience  in  which  the  ac 
complishment  oTThe  Divine  will  waits._Qii-.the. co-operation  of    '  ty 
tRe^wjIl  £f  man.     Hqw_  prayer  operates  we  cannot  tell,  any^. 
TTiore  than  we  can  telf  how  the  mind  acts  on  the  body.     But' 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  the  facts  are  open  to  observa- 
tion and  experiment.     For  example :   death   is  a  law  which 
rules  in  all  organic  life,  yet  in  any  given  case  we  cannot  say 
infallibly    that    the    threatened    death    must    inevitably    take 
place;  the  will  of  God  is  not  unalterably  expressed.     What 
if  prayer,  by  bringing  the  sufferer  into  contact  with  the  Source 
of  all  life,  should  reinforce  the  vital  energies  through  a  new 
sense  of  psychic  freedom  and  uplift?     Had  the  prayer  not  been 
offered,  the  law  which  rules  in  the  physical  sphere  would  have 
realised  itself.     But  with  the  prayer  of  faith  another  law  comes 
into  operation,  and  the  more  fundamental  will  of  God  is  ac- 
complished.    We  conclude  then  that  prayer,  so  far  from  being 
a  violation  of,' or  Interference  with^  the  Divine  order  of  the 

S  Conduct  of  Life,  p.  27. 


48  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

\world,  is  itself  the  fulfilment  of  a  spiritual  order  on  which  the 
natural  order  rests,  and  by  which  it  is  sustained.     Prayer  is- 

^-  not  the  moving  of  God's  will  by  ours,  but  the  bringing  of 

the  soul  into  such  a  relation  to  God  that  the  good  which  Hc; 

stands  ready  to  give  may  find  a  channel  for  its  free  inflow. 

'  The  eternal  Good-Will  no  rational  being  would  seek  to  change, 

'but  every  rational  being  may  become  the  instrument  through 

I       which  this  Good-Will  can  energise. 


II.  The  Reality  of  Prayer 

The  crucial  question  about  prayer  is  as  to  its  reality.     Does 

yit_  bring  us  into  contact  with  a  Will  and  a  Strength  higher, 
than  our  own,  or  are  its  results  merely  the  products  of  our^ 
own  minds?  Are  we  in  touch  with  a  Being  Who  transcends 
our  finite  selves,  or  in  praying  do  we  manipulate  the  contents 
of  the  mind  so  as  to  bring  about  a  certain  desired  disposition 
or  condition?  In  a  questionnaire  ^  on  the  subject,  sent  out  for 
the  purpose  of  this  essay  to  several  hundred  persons  of  all 
degrees  of  culture  and  of  the  most  diverse  attitudes  toward 
religion,  a  considerable  number,  while  admitting  the  beneficial 
effects  of  prayer,  traced  those  effects  to  the  power  of  self- 
suggestion.  Now  the  word  "  self-suggestion  "  is  simply  a  term^ly 
to  cover  our  ignorance.  We  do  not  know  what  is  implied  in 
the  phenomena  which  it  is  meant  to  describe.  Mr.  F.  W.  H. 
Myers  insists  that  even  the  self-suggestion  which  refuses  to 
appeal  to  any  higher  power,  which  believes  that  it  is  only 
calling  up  its  own  private  resources  into  play,  must  derive  its 
ultimate  efiicacy  from  the  increased  inflow  of  the  Infinite  Life. 
But  even  if  we  accept  the  ordinary  idea  that  self-suggestion 
is  simply  an  action  of  the  mind  on  itself,  why  should  we  hesi- 
tate to  believe  that  an  action  of  this  kind  is  an  element  in  all 
prayer?  Concentration  of  the  mind  on  the  good  desired,  with 
the  resultant  reflex  action  on  emotion  and  will,  is  the  human 
factor  in  the  process.  The  vital  question  is,  Does  this  admis- 
sion afford  a  complete  explanation  of  the  whole  spiritual  trans- 
action; and  if  men  believed  that  it  did,  how  long  would  they 
continue  to  pray?  An  appeal  to  a  Power  above  us,  call  this 
\/  Power  by  what  name  you  will,  is  of  the  very  essence  of 
prayer.  We  know  what  prayer  and  prayer  only  can  effect, 
'and  we  know  the  products  of  ordinary  self-suggestion.     *'  That 

9  See  Appendix,  p,  86, 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  49 

which  can  happen  only  with  the  consciousness  of  God  is  an  act 
of  God." 

The  old  dispute  as  to  the  "  subjective  and  objective  "  answers 
to  prayer  has  lost  its  interest  for  people  to-day.  What  lay 
at  the  bottom  of  that  dispute  w^as  the  question,  Does  anything 
really  happen  in  prayer ;  does  something  take  place  that  would 
not  take  place  but  for  prayer?  Some  persons  testify  that  they 
have  given  up  prayer,  not  because  it  failed  to  create  changes 
in  the  external  world  but  because  it  failed  to  do  anything,  and 
to  go  on  wnth  the  practice  seemed  a  waste  of  time.  Here  then 
we  touch  the  central  core  of  the  matter  —  Is  prayer  dynamic? 
Does  it  produce  genuine  phenomena  which  may  be  reckoned 
among  the  substantial  realities  of  experience?  Now,  the  testi- 
mony of  those  who  have  cultivated  the  art  of  prayer  is  strongly 
in  the  affirmative ;  and  the  psychologists  who  have  studied  their 
experiences  agree  with  their  judgement.     "  Prayer,"  writes  a 

student  of  mind,  "  is  dynamic  .   .  .  and  something  really  hap-    

pens ;  it  is  a  moral  transformation,  a  new  birth.  It  is  the 
miracle  of  miracles."  ^"  It  is  the  unifying  of  man's  refractory 
and  perv^erse  will  with  the  perfect  will  of  God.  But  the  energy 
set  free  by  prayer  is  not  exhausted  in  the  new  mood  it  creates 
within  the  soul ;  in  and  through  the  new  mood  it  brings  about 
external  results.  The  new  spirit  born  in  prayer  creates  a  new 
environment. 

There  are  two  great  regions  of  experience  in  which  the 
achievements  of  prayer  can  be  proved.  Man  is  a  worker ;  how 
stands  prayer  related  to  his  work?  Man  is  a  moral  being, 
called  to  achieve  character  and  to  build  up  an  ethical  person- 
ality. Does  prayer  afford  him  any  aid  in  the  fulfilment  of 
this  vocation  ? 

i.  There  are  many  who  excuse  themselves  from  the  practice^  ^^ 
^f  j)rayer  on  the  ground  that  all  true  work  is  worship,  and  -^ 
that  the  time  spent  in  praying  could  be  better  occupied  in 
^silent  endeavour.  "  My  work  is  my  prayer  "  writes  one.  "If 
I  can  put  into  mv  daily  work  a  sense  of  the  holiness  of  service 
I  believe  it  will  be  a  most  consecrated  prayer."  But  we  must 
remind  ourselves  that  we  are  not  sent  into  the  world  primarily 
to  work,  but  to  live.  Life  at  the  highest  level  of  its  possibili- 
ties, physical,  mental,  and  spiritual,  is  the  end  to  which  our 
work  is  but  the  means.  The  danger  of  making  work  the  be-all 
and  the  end-all  is  that  thereby  we  become  partial  and  limited, 
for  of  necessity  our  work  is  partial  and  must  be  limited  by 

10  A.  L.  Sears,  Drama  of  the  Spiritual  Life,  p.  338. 


A 


\y 


50  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

certain  definite  practical  aims.  Still  further,  devotion  to  work 
of  itself  ends  in  sheer  weariness  of  soul;  sooner  or  later  the 
doubt  whether  all  our  toiling  and  moiling  is  worth  while  arises 
to  paralyse  us.  The  truth  is  that  work  and  worship  correspond 
to  two  great  primary  needs  of  human  nature.  They  are  not 
antagonistic  but  complementary.  Prayer  recalls  us  from  the 
mere  instrumental  agencies  of  life  to  life  itself,  from  the  out- 
ward to  the  inward,  from  the  fragmentary  to  the  idea  of  the 
whole.  Hence  work  without  prayer  tends  to  make  us  strangers 
to  ourselves.  We  are  lost  in  our  activities;  they  become  dull 
drudgeries,  and  we  need  to  discover  ourselves  afresh.  But 
this  self-discovery  implies  the  discovery  of  God  as  the  object 
and  measure  and  meaning  of  existence.  Just  as  sleep  and 
food  replenish  the  exhausted  energies  of  the  body,  so  prayer 
—  the  return  to  the  Spirit  of  our  spirits  —  renews  the  powers 
of  the  soul,  giving  back  to  them  poise  and  momentum.  Cecil 
Rhodes  hit  upon  a  simple  rationale  of  prayer  when  he  said 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Cape  Town  that  "  prayer  represents  the 
daily  expression  to  oneself  of  the  right  thing  to  do,  and  is  a 
reminder  to  the  human  soul  that  it  must  direct  the  body  on 
"such  lines."  ;  Other  things  being  equal,  the  praying  man.  is 
more  efficient,  physically,  mentally,  and  spiritually,  than  the 
non-praying  man.  His  mind  works  freely,  unclouded  by 
passion ;  his  nervous  power  is  not  fretted  by  waste  and  worry. 
He  is  more  potent  in  the  battle  of  life.  The  vision  of  what  it 
all  means,  its  divine  and  eternal  significance,  endows  him  with 
new  resolve  to  fling  himself  without  reserve  into  the  task 
committed  to  him,  to  suffer  what  must  be  endured,  not  as  a 

I  blind  stroke  of  Fate  but  as  an  opportunity  for  the  display  of 

I  new  and  unsuspected  capacity. 

f'  ii.  Man  is  called  to  build  up  a  spiritual  personality  out  of 
the  materials  given  him  by  his  heredity  and  the  providential 
ordering  of  his  life.  A  current  impression  is  that  our  age  is 
lacking  in  forceful  characters.  We  have  plenty  of  scholars, 
skilled  mechanics,  cultured  dilettanti,  travelled  individuals  who 
have  been  everywhere  and  know  everybody,  but  of  strong,  virile 
personalities  there  is  a  singular  dearth.  Education  does  not 
necessarily  mean  distinction  of  character.  What  is  wrong  with 
the  modern  man?  May  it  not  be  that  he  is  out  of  touch  with 
a  larger  world  from  which  come  strength  and  poise  and  spirit- 
ual energy?  H  God  is  what  Christ  revealed  Him  to  be  — 
Life,  Love,  Power,  creative,  redeeming,  and  inspiring  —  it 
follows  that  intercourse  with  such  a  God  may  result  in  greater 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  51 

reality  and  freedom,  in  greater  courage  to   face  our  human 
trials,   in  an  increase  of  that  magnetic  quaHty  which  is  the 
sign-manual  of  spiritual  leadership.     Paul,  Augustine,  Luther, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  General  Gordon,  and  W.  E.  Gladstone  are 
among  the  most  powerful  figures  in  ancient  and  modern  history, 
and  they  were  adepts  in  the  art  of  prayer.     Their  testimony  is! 
tliat  in  praying  they   felt  themselves  in  contact  with  higher 
forces,  with  a  world  of  being  other  than  the  world  around 
them,  and  that  they  returned  to  the  sphere  of  their  daily  duty 
with  a  new  mastery  over  themselves  and  over  circumstances.^ 
They  experienced  wdiat  George  Tyrrell  describes  when  he  says 
that  "in  prayer  the  spirit  pierces  down  to  the  root  and  begin-  , 
ning  of  all  reality  from  which  it  springs,  and  stretches  up  to  ■ 
the  end  and  summit  of  all  reality  toward  which  it  strives  and 
struggles ;  and  between  these  two  poles  lies  the  whole  sphere  , 
of  the  finite,  which  it  strives  to  compass  and  transcend.  •  •  •  I    /^ 
In  this  contact  with  Reality  it  attains  Truth  —  truth  of  vision,  ^r 
truth  of  feeling,  truth  of  will."  ^^     But  what  we  find  writ  large' 
in  the  history  of  great  men  we  can  observe  also  in  a  measure  in 
their  less  gifted  fellows.     Here  are  some  testimonies  given  in  1 
reply  to  the  questionnaire  ^^  already  referred  to: —  .i 

"  Strength  such  as  I  never  had  before  in  the  face  of  great 
sorrow  and  anxiety." 

"  A  constant  expansion  of  soul,  thought,  and  comprehension, 
just  as  though  light  was  pouring  into  my  mind." 

"  I  received  strength  of  mind  and  spirit  to  do  the  things  I 
desired  to  do." 

"  A  wave  of  heavenly   fellowship,   serenity,   and   strength 
sw^ept  in  and  satisfied  me  absolutely." 

"  I  ask  only  for  strength  and  wisdom  in  dealing  with  my 
problems,  and  that  request  is  invariably  granted." 

"  Prayer  gives  me  energy  and  enables  me  to  do  what  I  other- 
wise might  fail  to  accomplish." 

"  Strength  from  God  comes  to  reinforce  my  flagging  en- 
ergies.    I  do  not  believe  it;  I  am  clearly  conscious  of  it." 

Such  self-revelations  go  to  show  that  one  of  the  first  fruits^ 
of  the  prayer  of  faith  is  an  enhanced  personality.    JTh rough  1 
praver  \vc  become  conscious  of  reserve  power;  we  feel  thar 
tln-re  is  an  outlying  region  of  potenc}',  a  reservoir  of  unused 
energy  which  we  may  tap  when  new  tasks  challenge  the  will.' 

But  God  is  not  only  the  All-Real;  He  is  the  All-Holy  as    ^ 
well.     Hence  the  abundant  testimony  to  the  regenerative  ef- 

11  Lex  Credendi,  Pt.  ii.,  p.  83.  12  Cf.  p.  58,  and  Appendix,   p.  86. 


A 


\ 


52  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

fects  of  prayer  on  character.  In  such  recent  and  well-known 
books  as  Mr.  Harold  Begbie's  Broken  Earthenware  and  Souls 
in  Action  striking  illustrations  may  be  found.  Indeed,  there  is 
not  a  mission  worker,  nor  a  religious  or  ethical  teacher,  who  has 
not  witnessed  the  power  of  prayer  to  make  bad  men  good  and 
to  inspire  the  conventionally  good  with  a  spiritual  passion. 
To-day  men  ask  of  a  religious  truth.  What  is  its  ethical  value? 
Some  there  are  who  find  in  prayer  joys  of  a  mystical  kind, 
emotional  exultation  unknown  to  less  sensitive  spirits;  but 
such  experiences  are  not  of  the  essence  of  prayer.  They  de- 
pend on  psycho-physical  states,  on  temperamental  predisposi- 
tions,  i  The  real  worth  of  communion  with  the  Unseen  is  the 

I  mighty  spiritual  transformation  it  brings  about.  It  arms  tlie 
will  to  beat  down  temptations,  to  conquer  evil  habits,  and  to  put 

i  on  the  virtues  of  Christ.     The  saddest  of  human  tragedies  is  a 

I  divided  personality.  We  .are  not  at  one  with  ourselves. 
We  are  a  prey  to  sins,  fears,  doubts,  vacillations,  indecisions ; 
we  are  disloyal  to  our  real  and  fundamental  self.  The  animal 
man  is  master  for  long  years,  and  yet  the  spiritual  man  cannot 
be  silenced ;  so  life,  distracted  and  at  war  with  itself,  goes  on  its 
ineffective  way,  always  in  the  shadow  of  disillusion  and  death. 
The  supreme  need  is    for  some  power  that,  will   unifj^   the 

Vdivided  self  and  bring  to  it  peace  and  healing. 

V    /"/Such  a  power  is  prayer.     We  can  see  to  some  extent  how 

ir  must  be  so.  The  attitude  of  mind  involved  in  the  act  of 
praying  tends  to  simplicity.  Ideas,  emotions,  and  feelings  are 
all  gathered  around  the  central  Reality  —  God.  The  higher 
and  more  spiritual  the  conception  of  God  is,  the  more  effectively 
are  all  the  powers  of  the  soul  organised  and  unified.  Ancient 
inhibitions  are  swept  away,  fears  dissipated;  obsessive  desires 
lose  their  urgency  and  die  out ;  peace  takes  the  place  of  conflict ; 
and  the  whole  man  is  lifted  out  of  weakness  into  strength,  out 
of  inadequacy  and  impracticality  into  a  faith  and  a  confidence 
that  can  remove  mountains.  The  soul  sees  itself  and  its  aims 
J  in  the  light  of  God's  unerring  judgement;  it  condemns  and  re- 
nounces whatever  cannot  stand  this  searching  test,  and  it  or- 
ganises its  life  afresh  around  a  new  and  holy  and  vitalising 
spiritual  centre.  With  unity  comes  peace,  and  with  peace 
comes  happiness} 

From   another  point   of   view   the  re-creative   function   of 
^'     ^  prayer  can  be  made  intelligible.     In  all  true  prayer  there  is  an 

'  element  of  confession.     Students  of  abnormal  psychology  tell 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  53 

us  that  morbidities  and  distresses  of  various  kinds  are  often' 
caused  by  wishes  and  fears  which  He  hidden  in  the  unconscious' 
and  are  therefore  unsuspected  by  the  sufferer.     Relief  can  be; 
obtained  only  by  bring^ing  out  these  secret  mischiefs  into  the 
clear  light  of  conscious  thought.     In  the  moral  and  spiritual 
life  the  same  principle  holds  good.     While  sinning  against  the ; 
light  of  conscience  the  soul  sets  up  a  "  reaction  of  defence  "  by; 
seeking  io  hide  from  itself,  or,  to  change  the  figure,  by  creating, 
a  falM-  image  of  itself.     Now  the  first  step  in  the  process  of  | 
reform  is  confession,  whereby  the  soul  sees  itself,  not  as  it' 
seems  to  itself  to  be  but  as  it  really  is,  bared  of  all  the  excuses 
wherewith  it  has  sought  to  be  at  peace  with  its  diviner  in-  , 
stiiicts.     In  frank  and  open  speech  with  God,  the  All-Holy  and 
the  All-Loving,  the  wrong-doer,  even  in  his  misery,  finds  relief. 
He  offers  no  plea  of  extenuating  circumstances  in  his  own      t^' 
behalf,  but  he  realises  that  God  knows  him  better  than  he  ; 
knows  himself,  and  he  takes  comfort  in  the  thought  that  God 
will  judge  him  with  unerring  insight  and  large-hearted  compre- 
hension.    Thus  through  the  prayer  of  confession,  the  soul  is, 
as  it  were,  cleansed  of  "  the  perilous  stuff  that  weighs  upon  it." 
Its  concealments  and  self-deceptions  are  at  an  end.     Its  secret 
ills  are  not  only  forced  into  the  open  day  of  self-reflection,  but 
are   shared   wath   Another   and   a   Holier.     In    freshly-found 
strength  it  can  face  the  task  of  laying  the  foundations  of  a  new 
and  better  life.     By  a  kind  of  transference  the  soul  makes  over 
to  its  Divine  Companion  all  its  secret  burdens,  and  through  the 
conviction  of  His  sympathy  and  trust  in  it,  there  arises  a  con- 
sciousness of  freedom,  of  psychic  expansion  and  blessedness. 
The  soul  is  re-born  into  a  world  of  power  and  joy. 

But  the  re-creation  of  personality  is  not  something  done  once  ju 
and   for  all   in  a  moment  of  high  experience.     It  is  also  a    r 
_process.     \\'e  make  progress  by  decisions  of  the  will,  by  free  ' 
acts  of  choice.     On  these  forthgoings  of  our  volitional  power 
depend  our  weal  or  woe.     As  we  stand  at  the  cross-roads  of 
the  spiritual  life,  our  imperative  need  is  for  light  and  guidance, 
because  the  wTong  choice  means  sin  and  misery  and  may  mean 
frightful  disaster.     \\'is(Iom,  the  clear  vision  of  the  ends  of 
life,  and  of  the  appropriate  means  by  which  to  realise  them,  is 
the  gift  of  the  Divine  Spirit  Who  gives  liberally  to  all  men,  but 
Who  does  not  coerce  or  take  the  will  by  storm.     Prayer  is  thus 
the  free  turning  of  the  mind  to  the  soul  of  goodness;  it  is  the 
contemplation  of  the  eternal  truth  and  righteousness;  it  is  the 
surrender  to  the  vision  of  the  grace,  the  simplicity,  and  the 


54  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

loyalty  of  Christ.  From  this  vision  flows  insight  into  the 
Divine  meaning  of  the  facts  of  experience;  things  really  great 
and  worthy  of  homage  reveal  their  splendour;  things  really 
small  shrink  to  their  .true  proportions.  Character  grows 
through  the  concentration  of  the  attention  on  the  ideas  thus 
involved.  A  New  Testament  writer  makes  a  righteous  char- 
acter the  condition  of  the  prayer  that  availeth  much,  but 
we  know  as  a  matter  of  experience  that  prayer  generates  the 
righteousness  which  is  here  assumed  as  its  spiritual  pre- 
requisite.^^ But  the  paradox  is  resolved  in  the  experience  of 
him  who  prays.  Sincere  prayer,  that  is,  prayer  which  em- 
bodies and  expresses  the  best  and  truest  vision  which  we  pos- 
sess, is  answered  by  the  gift  of  a  still  deeper  understanding,  and 
thus  the  earnest  soul  is  led  from  stage  to  stage  of  insight  and 
knowledge,  which  in  turn  react  on  the  will  and  produce  nobler 
and  wiser  living.  It  is  a  psychological  commonplace  that  all 
mental  states  tend  to  outward  expression  in  action,  and  espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  ideas  that  are  imbued  with  a  "  feeling-tone," 
with  power  to  rouse  the  emotions.  And  of  all  ideas  charged 
with  potency  to  stir  the  depths  of  the  soul  and  set  in  motion  the 
deepest  springs  of  action,  none  can  be  compared  with  the  idea 
of  God,  the  absolute  embodiment  of  knowledge,  sympathy,  and 
love,  the  eternal  fulfilment  of  all  man's  ideal  hopes,  of  all  his 
temporal  strivings  after  goodness,  truth,  and  beauty. 

III.  Prayer  for  Others 

There  are  many  who  are  willing  to  acknowledge  the  reason- 
ableness of  prayer  when  offered  for  our  own  spiritual  or  ma- 
terial welfare,  but  they  are  unable  to  understand  how  prayer 
for  others  can  influence  the  mental  or  physical  state  of  those 
prayed  for;  moreover  they  feel  a  difficulty  in  believing  that 
God  would  make  the  well-being  of  His  children  dependent  on 
the  prayers  of  weak,  erring,  and  forgetful  mortals.  Now 
there  are  two  principles  which  must  be  assumed  if  we  are  to 
avoid  unworthy  ideas  of  the  relations  of  God  and  the  soul  as 
mediated  by  prayer.  The  first  is  the  interdependence  and  unity 
of  all  human  spirits.  Hence  intercession  is  not  an  accidental 
element  in  ideal  Christian  prayer;  it  is  rather  of  its  essence. 
Consider  how  the  Model  Prayer  is  saturated  with  a  mediatorial 
spirit.  He  who  offers  it  intelligently,  and  from  the  heart,  ex- 
tends his  views  beyond  himself  and  takes  in  the  whole  world. 

J  3  James,  v.  lo. 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  55 

"  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  Nay,  even 
those  petitions  which  seem  most  personal,  the  request  for  daily 
bread,  for  pardon  of  sin,  and  for  deliverance  from  the  over- 
whelming might  of  temptation,  are  really  cast  in  the  mould  of 
intercession,  because  these  gifts  we  may  not  ask  for  ourselves 
without  at  the  same  time  asking  them  for  others.  Thus  the 
Master  of  prayer  confirms  the  purest  and  most  gracious  in- 
stincts of  the  heart,  which  spontaneously  go  out  toward  those 
whom  we  love,  and  even  far  beyond  the  confines  of  personal 
relation,  and  which  affirm  a  brotherhood  of  souls  wide  as 
humanity  itself.  If  it  be  said  that  it  is  unjust  and  unworthy 
of  any  truly  moral  government  of  the  world  to  make  the  well- 
being  of  one  soul  dependent  on  the  faithfulness  and  spiritual 
zeal  of  another,  the  answer  must  be  that  in  matters  of  the 
gravest  concern,  questions  of  life  and  death,  men  are,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  dependent  upon  one  another.  The  facts  of 
heredity,  environment,  and  education  imply  that  the  fate  of 
any  one  generation  is,  in  no  small  degree,  in  the  keeping  of 
the  generations  that  have  gone  before.  It  is  this  truth  which, 
when  realised,  trains  men  and  women  into  a  sense  of  their 
responsibility  for  the  growing  child,  and  even  for  the  unborn. 

And  what  is  true  of  the  collective  mass  is  also  true  of  the 
individual.  No  man's  happiness  or  welfare  is  exclusively  in 
his  own  keeping;  it  is  at  the  mercy  of  others,  conditioned  by 
myriad  influences  coming  from  without.  From  this  fact 
spring  some  of  the  most  tragic  experiences  of  life.  Nor  can 
we  confine  the  operation  of  this  law  to  the  great  critical  mo- 
ments of  the  soul's  history.  Less  obviously,  but  not  the  less 
truly,  each  of  us  is  being  affected  in  the  deepest  places  of  his 
being,  consciously  or  subconsciously,  by  those  about  us  in  the 
ordinary  and  prosaic  round  of  daily  existence.  Why,  then, 
should  prayer  be  refused  a  place  in  a  world-order,  a  charac- 
teristic feature  of  which  is  the  solidarity  and  interdependence 
of  all  moral  beings? 

The  other  idea  lying  at  the  foundation  of  all  worthy  inter- 
cession is  that  of  the  universality  of  the  Divine  goodness.  We 
may  conceive  of  God  as  an  eternal  stream  of  light  and  life  and 
power,  ever  seeking  to  enter  into  and  possess  all  human  spirits. 
He  has  no  favourites ;  everv  man  is  ideally  His  child,  and  the 
Divine  love  is  intent  on  making  the  ideal  an  actuality.  This 
is  a  truth  that  belongs  to  the  very  heart  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. Hence,  intercessory  prayer  is  the  means  by  which  we 
throw  ourselves  into  the  Divine  intention.     It  takes  its  place 


56  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

with  moral  effort,  philanthropic  enthusiasm,  social  endeavour 
as  an  element  of  our  alliance  with  God  in  the  realisation  of  His 
purpose  for  the  world.  Each  soul  is  the  centre  of  a  unique 
experience,  unshared  by  any  other;  but  all  souls  live  in  God 
and  through  Him.  He  is  their  unifying  bond,  the  fundamental 
ground  of  their  existence.  Hence  they  lie  open  to  His  influ- 
ence, and  to  the  influences  of  other  souls  which  energise  in 
harmony  with  Him.  Thus  we  can  understand,  in  a  certain 
measure,  how  prayers,  or  wishes  of  ours,  rising  up  in  the 
Divine  mind  can  reach  and  influence  other  spirits. 

There  is  a  growing  body  of  expert  opinion  tending  towards 
the  assertion  of  a  causal  connection,  other  than  normal  sense- 
perception,  between  the  thoughts  of  two  living  minds.  It 
should  be  carefully  noted,  however,  that  "  telepathy  "  is  a  term 
descriptive  of  certain  facts,  not  explanatory  or  classificatory 
of  them.  These  facts  go  to  show  that  there  is  a  supernormal 
link  of  connection  between  the  consciousness  of  one  living 
person  and  that  of  another,  but  what  this  causative  factor  is  or 
under  what  conditions  it  operates,  we  do  not  as  yet  know. 
"  Orthodox  "  science,  generally  speaking,  rejects  the  existence 
of  such  facts,  but  competent  and  highly-trained  specialists,  such 
as  Dr.  W.  McDougall,  Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
Sir  W.  F.  Barrett,  and  the  American,  Dr.  J.  H.  Hyslop,  have 
long  since  been  convinced  that  the  facts  are  beyond  all  dispute, 
though  they  differ  as  to  the  possible  explanation.  Should  the 
causal  power  ever  be  discovered  —  and  as  yet  investigation  has 
been  far  from  thorough  —  we  might  have,  not  indeed  an  ulti- 
mate explanation  of  prayer  but  an  indication  of  the  principle 
of  the  Divine  working.  Meantime  the  evidence  appears  to  be 
strong  enough  to  warrant  us  in  assuming  that  under  as  yet 
unknown  conditions,  one  mind  may  directly  or  indirectly  influ- 
ence another  mind  in  some  way  not  open  to  any  normal  ex- 
planation. "  All's  law  yet  all's  God."  The  more  order  we  can 
read  in  the  spiritual  realm,  the  more  proof  we  have  of  the 
presence  of  an  all-inspiring  Reason. 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations  we  are  justified  in 
asserting  the  rationality  and  spiritual  propriety  of  intercessory 
prayer.  When  our  hearts  cry  out  on  behalf  of  others  to  the 
Great  Companion,  it  is  not  the  despairing  expression  of  our 
own  impotence;  it  is  rather  that  we  yield  ourselves  as  means 
by  which  the  Divine  will  of  good  may  manifest  its  healing 
power  in  those  for  whom  we  pray.  Prayer,  so  conceived,  is 
redeemed  from  every  taint  of  selfishness,  opens  the  mind  and 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  57 

will  upon  larger  visions,  and  reveals  itself  as  a  powerful  agency 
in  the  creation  of  social  well-l)eing.  Hence  we  are  encouraged 
by  the  highest  motives  to  believe  that  God  will  not  be  indifferent 
to  us  when  we  bring  with  us  into  His  presence  particular  in- 
dividuals in  whom  we  are  specially  interested,  or  whose  needs 
make  us  anxious  and  troubled. 

An  older  form  of  piety,  as  reflected  in  some  of  the  Old 
Testament  Psalms,  taught  the  right  to  ask  for  "  special  bless- 
ings "  for  this  or  that  individual.  But  to-day,  we  feel  that 
this  violates  the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  as  a  special  benefit  for 
one  implies  that  a  smaller  good  will  suffice  for  others  in  whom 
we  are  not  interested.  It  follows  that  to  pray  that  a  loved  one, 
in  danger  in  the  field  of  battle,  may  be  saved  from  death  is 
natural  and  right  only  if  we  remember  that  there  are  others 
whose  preservation  is  as  precious  to  their  friends  and  kinsmen 
as  the  life  of  our  dear  one  is  to  us.  Where  the  answer  to 
our  prayer  would  not  injure  the  happiness  or  well-being  of 
others,  and  where  it  is  not  hostile  to  the  known  will  of  God,  we 
are  justified  in  letting  our  requests  be  made  known  to  Him. 
Here  is  a  "  Soldier's  Prayer,"  which  has  been  offered  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  English-speaking  combatants  in  the 
trenches  of  France  and  Belgium  : — 

Lord,  ere  I  join  in  deadly  strife 

And    battle's    terrors    dare, 
First  would  I  render  soul  and  life 

To  Thine  Almighty  care. 
And  when  grim  death,  in  smoke-wreaths  robed. 

Comes  thundering  o'er  the   scene, 
What  fear  can  reach  the  soldier's  heart, 

Whose  trust  in  Thee  has  been?i4 

Note  well  that  the  true  soldier  does  not  ask  for  any  miraculous 
protection  from  shot  and  shell;  what  he  asks  is  that  he  may 
have  the  consciousness  of  God's  presence  and  care,  and  that 
he  may  be  granted  the  saving  grace  of  courage,  the  fruit  of 
faith.  We  may  not  ask  for  another  what  that  other  does  not 
feel  free  to  ask  for  himself. 

In  all  our  prayers  for  others  there  is  a  condition  without 
which  they  would  savour  of  the  unspiritual  and  mechanical 
notions  of  our  primitive  ancestors.  Every  genuine  prayer  for 
others  carries  tvith  it  an  expenditure  of  spiritual  zntality  on 
the  part  of  him  zvho  prays.  A  little  reflection  will  show  that 
in  this  there  is  nothing  arbitrary  or  unreasonable.     Why  should 

14  Sir  George  Colley. 


58  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

I  claim  the  right  to  ask  God  to  give  unless  I  am  myself  giving? 
The  giving  will  manifest  itself  in  different  w^ays.  For  ex- 
ample: I  give  when  I  offer  up  earnest  and  whole-hearted  de- 
sires to  God;  when  I  try  to  picture  to  myself  the  spiritual 
situation  of  the  one  in  need ;  when  I  seek  to  co-operate  actively 
at  the  cost  of  personal  sacrifice  and  service,  where  that  is 
possible,  and  if  that  be  not  possible  by  sending  toward  him 
some  thought  of  peace  and  strength  and  comfort.  In  this 
mysterious  realm  it  may  well  be  that  our  yearning  for  and 
understanding  of  another's  welfare  are,  in  part  at  least,  the 
agencies  in  "  the  inconceivable  unity  of  souls  "  whereby  the 
Divine  intention  to  help  is  actualised.  It  is  reverent  and  ra- 
tional to  believe  that  as  we  need  God,  even  so  He  needs  us. 
Thus  we  may  taste  the  joy  of  knowing  that  we  are  helping  the 
Divine  Friend  in  the  accomplishment  of  His  purposes  of  grace. 
In  our  natural  solicitude  for  those  near  and  dear  to  us  we 
are  prone  to  forget  another  limitation  within  which  sincere  in- 
tercession is  efficacious.  Suppose  that  you  have  yielded  up 
to  the  claims  of  duty  and  humanity  someone  whom  you  love. 
Your  loved  one  goes  forth  to  meet  danger  and  possible  death. 
Your  prayers  follow  him  day  and  night :  as  an  invisible  guard 
they  would  shield  him  from  the  shafts  of  fate;  but  he  falls, 
stricken  in  some  bloody  battle,  that  others  may  pass  on  to 
victory.  And  then  you  lose  faith  in  prayer.  You  say :  "  It 
has  failed  me  in  the  hour  of  my  greatest  need."  But  the  real 
weakness  has  not  been  in  prayer,  but  in  yourself.  Your  self- 
renunciation  was  not  complete.  You  imagined  you  had  dedi- 
cated your  loved  one  to  God  and  to  His  cause;  in  reality  you 
had  cherished  a  secret  reserve,  a  hidden  shrinking  from  the 
supreme  sacrifice.  And  now  that  the  thing  feared  has  hap- 
pened, you  pray  no  more  and  regard  the  All-Loving  as  your 
enemy.  The  only  key  that  will  unlock  the  door  of  your  dark 
prison  is  the  prayer  of  penitence,  of  submission,  nay,  rather 
of  trustful  acceptance  of  your  suffering  as  from  Him  Who  is 
at  once  the  End  and  Meaning  of  your  life.  Only  then  will 
peace  and  hope  be  yours. 

IV.  Prayer  and  Sickness 

There  is  especially  one  field  of  intercession  from  which  it 
would  be  an  intolerable  pain  to  bar  out  the  affectionate  and 
unselfish  heart.  The  sickness  of  those  whom  we  love  is 
instinctively  felt  to  be  a  matter  about  which  we  should  speak 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  59 

to  God.  It  touches  us  closely;  it  tries  our  tenderest  affections 
and  it  disturbs  profoundly  our  peace  of  mind.  Yet  of  what 
avail  is  prayer  to  overcome  the  forces  of  disease  and  to  turn 
back  the  ebbing  tide  of  life?  This  question  has  led  to  much 
extravagance  in  thought  and  speech,  and  many  untenable 
claims  have  been  made  in  the  name  of  religious  faith.  Hence 
some,  whose  prayers  have  beat  in  vain  against  the  barriers  of 
the  natural  order,  have,  in  their  disappointment,  given  up  the 
practice  as  useless  and  a  waste  of  energy.  They  forget  that 
prayer  is  not  an  omnipotent  power,  capable  of  over-riding  all 
the  Divinely  ordered  structure  of  the  w^orld  and  of  changing,  as 
by  a  miracle,  the  face  of  nature.  Nevertheless,  w'ithin  limita- 
tions which  it  is  impossible  to  define,  prayer  for  the  sick,  in 
the  judgement  of  scientific  men,  "  may  contribute  to  recovery 
and  should  be  encouraged  as  a  therapeutic  measure.  Being  a 
normal  factor  of  moral  health  in  the  person,  its  omission  would 
be  deleterious."  ^^  Statistical  inquiry  has  shown  that  patients 
who  are  prayed  for,  and  who  know  that  they  are  being  prayed 
for,  have  a  better  chance  of  recovery  than  those  who  ignore 
this  spiritual  help.  The  physicians  explain  that  hope  and  con- 
fidence, and  the  relaxation  which  comes  from  quiet  trust,  tend 
to  the  right  functioning  of  the  psycho-physical  organism. 
Here,  then,  is  the  empirical  fact :  prayer  under  certain  condi- 
tions has  a  healing  power.  We  may  go  further  and  assert  that 
in  cases  in  which  all  ordinary  medical  methods  have  failed,  the 
attitude  of  mind  evoked  by  prayer  has  won  success.  It  is  one 
of  the  glaring  inconsistencies  of  modern  Christianity  that, 
while  professing  to  believe  in  prayer  for  the  sick,  it  has  never 
tried  to  understand  its  belief  or  to  apply  it  in  a  serious  and 
systematic  fashion. 

The  question  arises.  Are  we  justified  in  using  prayer  for 
this  purpose,  and,  if  so,  can  any  light  be  thrown  on  the  mode 
of  its  operation?  It  has  been  maintained  that  to  speak  of 
the  power  of  prayer  to  cure  disease  is  to  mix  things  that  radi- 
cally differ,  things  that  are  mechanical  and  things  that  are 
spiritual ;  that  to  the  world  of  nerves  belong  sensations,  brain- 
cells,  and  the  nervous  system  wnth  its  nerv^e-discharges.  But 
prayer  belongs  to  a  different  realm;  it  is  ethical  and  spiritual 
in  character,  and  its  effects  must  be  of  this  order  and  not 
psycho-physical. 

Now  this  objection  appears  to  overlook  the  profound  unity 
of  human  nature.     Man  is  neither  a  spirit  nor  a  body,  but  a 

15  James,    Varieties   of  Religions  Experience,   p.   463. 


6o  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

third  something  constituted  by  the  unity  of  both.  For  every 
phenomenon  in  the  sphere  of  consciousness  there  is  a  corre- 
sponding phenomenon  in  the  nervous  system,  and,  vice  versa, 
for  every  change  in  the  nervous  organism  there  is  a  corre- 
sponding echo  in  the  mental  realm.  Our  thoughts  are  not 
dead,  inert  things;  they  are  living  forces  that  tend  to  find  ex- 
pression in  corresponding  physical  states.  Our  very  ability  to 
pray  is  dependent  on  nervous  conditions.  As  Francis  Thomp- 
son puts  it : — "  Prayer  is  the  very  sword  of  the  Saints ;  but 
prayer  grows  tarnished  save  the  brain  be  healthful,  nor  can  the 
brain  be  long  healthful  in  an  unhealthy  body."  ^^  As  long  as 
we  are  on  this  material  plane  our  spiritual  life  is  conditioned  by 
psycho-physical  processes,  and  if  these  are  disordered,  why 
should  we  not  seek  contact  with  the  Creative  Life  and  Power 
so  as  to  have  them  function  aright?  Moreover,  if  sickness  is 
felt  to  be  a  barrier  between  the  sufferer  and  God,  what  is  there 
unethical  in  praying  that  this  barrier  may  be  removed? 

The  new  attitude  of  physicians  on  this  question  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  signs  of  the  times.  George  Eliot,  reflecting 
the  opinion  of  her  own  day,  says  in  Middlemarch  ^'^  that  "  if 
any  medical  man  had  come  to  Middlemarch  with  the  reputation 
of  having  very  definite  religious  views,  of  being  given  to 
prayer,  and  of  otherwise  showing  an  active  piety,  there  would 
have  been  a  general  presumption  against  his  medical  skill." 
But  to-day  the  wise  physician  welcomes  every  aid,  social  or 
religious,  as  a  valued  ally  in  the  fight  against  disease.  Not 
infrequently  he  is  himself  a  man  of  idealistic  temperament, 
conscious  of  the  august  mysteries  of  life  and  death,  and  of  the 
great  limitations  that  beset  his  skill  and  knowledge.  His  sym- 
pathy is  with  the  patient  in  the  search  after  a  rational  faith. 
He  knows  that  trust  in  a  holy,  loving,  and  gracious  Spirit 
makes  life  liveable,  and  inspires  the  hope  and  serenity  that 
contribute  to  health  and  strength.  Perhaps  the  most  noted 
example  of  the  happy  combination  of  religious  faith  and  med- 
ical science  is  that  offered  by  Dr.  W.  Grenfell,  the  hero  of 
Labrador,  whose  skill  and  success  are  equally  visible  in  the 
amputation  of  a  limb,  and  in  the  voicing  of  his  patient's  needs 
in  prayer.  The  rise  of  the  new  psychology;  the  general  dis- 
credit into  which  materialism  as  a  philosophy  has  fallen ;  the  in- 
creasing vogue  of  quasi-mystical  and  healing  cults  such  as 
Christian  Science  and  Higher  Thought ;  the  growing  tendency 

16  Health  and  Holiness,  pp.  53,   54.     Published  by  Burns  &  Oates. 

17  Chap,  xviii. 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  6i 

to  judge  all  truth  by  its  significance  for  life  —  all  these  influ- 
ences have  led  educated  medical  men  to  regard  with  favour  the 
importance  of  psychic  forces  in  disordered  states  of  mind  and 
body.  Even  an  agnostic  like  the  distinguished  Swiss  neurolo- 
gist, Dr.  Dubois,  can  say:  "  Religious  faith  would  be  the  best 
preventive  against  the  maladies  of  the  soul  and  the  most  won- 
derful means  of  curing  them,  if  it  had  sufficient  life  to  create 
true  Christian  stoicism  in  its  followers."  ^* 

There  is  at  least  one  point  on  which  the  teaching  of  Christ 
and  that  of  modern  medical  science  are  in  perfect  agreement: 
both  imply  that  disease  is  an  evil.  The  fact  that  men  can  rise 
above  it,  and  even  make  it  the  minister  of  good,  is  no  argument 
against  its  mischievous  and  injurious  character  any  more  than 
the  sublime  bye-products  of  war  make  its  waste  of  life  other 
than  a  disaster  to  mankind.  Health  is  normal;  disease  is  ab- 
normal. Man  is  meant  to  realise  his  highest  potencies  —  phys- 
ical, mental,  and  spiritual ;  any  force  hostile  to  this  scheme  of 
normal  existence  is  an  evil  and  should  not  be.  The  cure  and 
prevention  of  disease  are  obviously  part  of  the  Divine  intention. 

Now  all  diseases  are  at  once  physical  and  mental ;  but  some 
are  more  physical  than  mental,  and  some  are  more  mental  than 
physical.  The  cure  of  both  forms  of  sickness  can  be  achieved 
only  in  accordance  with  Divine  laws,  and  therefore  in  the 
ultimate  issue  must  be  traced  back  to  healing  energies  that  issue 
from  the  source  of  all  life.  The  medical  expert  who  prescribes 
fresh  air,  diet  and  rest  for  the  victim  of  tuberculosis  while 
denying  the  value  of  peace  and  hope  which  prayer  inspires, 
would  be  as  foolish  as  those  persons  who  ignore  the  marvellous 
powers  that  work  in  the  physical  world  so  as  to  magnify  purely 
spiritual  agencies.  Prayer  is  a  great  mystery,  but  so  also  is 
the  healing  virtue  of  medicine.  We  are  as  ignorant  of  the 
mode  of  operation  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  The  truly 
scientific  physician  does  not  overlook  or  despise  any  means  of 
cure.  He  knows  that  all  alike  are  inexplicable.  Hence  the 
time  will  come  when  in  the  general  opinion  it  will  appear  as 
unscientific  to  believe  in  medical  treatment  without  prayer  as  it 
now  seems  fanatical  to  believe  in  prayer  without  medical  treat- 
ment. I  venture  to  prophesy  of  the  day  when  we  shall  have  an 
ideal  hospital  in  which  the  highest  resources  of  scientific 
medicine  shall  be  linked  to  a  rational  faith  expressing  itself  in 
reverence  and  devotion  in  union  with  the  creative  and  health- 
giving  Spirit. 

16  Psychic  Treatment  of  Nervous  Disorders,  p.  210. 


62  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

We  know  that  there  is  a  large  class  of  semi-mental,  semi- 
nervous  disorders,  for  which  the  science  of  medicine  knows  no 
definite  remedy,  chemical  or  physical.  These  disorders  are 
caused  by,  or  associated  with,  such  miseries  as  overstrained 
grief,  remorse,  worry,  fear,  despair  of  the  future,  indecision, 
weakness  of  will-power,  irrational  doubt,  and  other  debilitating 
psychic  states.  In  these  cases  it  is  the  man  himself  that  is  dis- 
eased. What  we  have  here  is  a  disorder,  not  of  this  or  that 
function  or  organ  but  of  the  entire  personality.  The  only  cure 
lies  in  the  reconstruction  of  character,  in  the  suppression  of  the 
weaker  self  and  the  re-birth  into  a  larger  self,  redeemed  from 
negative  thoughts  and  emotions,  and  characterised  by  freedom, 
unity,  and  peace.  Prayer  is  a  specific  attitude  of  mind  in  which 
thought,  feeling,  and  will  are  involved,  and  this  activity  has 
psychic  sequences  or  concomitants  which,  through  the  nervous 
system,  affect  the  whole  physical  organism.  As  to  how  this 
process  is  possible  we  know  no  more  than  we  know  how  the 
mind  has  a  body.  Nevertheless  the  facts  in  either  case  cannot 
be  disputed. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  prayer  of  one  soul  for  another.  I  do 
not  understand  how  the  prayer  which  I  offer  for  a  friend,  that 
he  may  receive  strength  of  mind  or  health  of  body,  can  prove 
of  benefit  to  him,  for  I  do  not  know  the  laws  which  connect 
soul  with  soul,  and  all  souls  with  the  Universal  Soul.  But 
that  there  are  such  laws  I  cannot  doubt.  I  know  that  when  I 
sincerely  pray  for  my  friend  I  am  most  free  from  selfishness 
and  nearest  the  Divine.  Such  prayers  must  be  good  and  in  har- 
mony with  the  Divine  will,  and  therefore  are  not  only  per- 
missible as  a  relief  to  burdened  and  anxious  hearts  but  must 
be  veritable  channels  through  which  spiritual  force  is  trans- 
mitted to  help  and  heal.  A  friend  of  the  writer,  who  had 
passed  through  a  very  dangerous  illness  during  which,  indeed, 
at  one  time  but  small  hope  of  recovery  was  entertained  by  the 
physicians,  writes  as  follows : 

"  It  is  almost  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  great  comfort  and 
peace  which  sick  persons  experience  through  praying  for  them- 
selves, and  through  the  prayers  of  others.  This  was  deeply 
impressed  upon  me  during  my  illness.  I  always  felt  that  my 
recovery  began  when  I  began  again  to  take  cognisance  of 
prayer,  and  to  appreciate  the  prayers  that  were  offered  for  me 
and  to  offer  a  few  prayers  for  myself." 

This  testimony  is  abundantly  corroborated  by  that  of  others. 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  63 

Here  we  are  in  the  domain  not  of  theory  but  of  subjective  ex- 
perience, and  account  for  the  facts  as  we  may  they  are 
absohitely  unquestionable.  Our  bcHcf  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer 
for  the  heaHng  of  sickness  is  greatly  influenced  by  the  cor- 
porate belief  of  the  religious  community  to  which  we  belong. 
As  the  faith  of  Christendom  in  spiritual  agencies  rises,  we  shall 
witness  an  increasing  proportion  of  the  healing  wonders  which 
marked  the  noblest  and  most  unworldly  era  of  the  Church's 
history. 

We  must  be  careful,  however,  not  to  treat  our  high  inter- 
course with  God  as  though  it  were  a  means  and  not  an  end  in 
itself.  To  strive  after  a  spiritual  experience  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  some  dark  obsession  of  the  mind,  or  to  feel  an  increase  of 
bodily  comfort,  is  to  confound  the  temporal  with  the  eternal, 
the  superficial  with  the  primary  and  essential.  Health  of  mind 
and  body  is  a  good,  but  it  it  is  a  good  with  regard  to  something 
beyond  itself.  It  may  be  made,  and  often  is  made,  an  instru- 
ment of  evil.  To  pray  for  recovery  from  sickness,  either  for 
oneself  or  for  another,  apart  from  any  purpose  or  desire  that 
the  recovered  health  should  be  used  aright,  consecrated  to  the 
highest  ends,  would  simply  mean  a  degradation  of  spiritual 
powers  to  the  level  of  non-moral  magic.  The  primary  func- 
tion of  prayer  is  to  unite  us  to  God.  Restoration  to  health 
may  best  be  conceived  as  a  secondary  result  of  this  direct  and 
intentional  activity.  In  praying  for  others  our  object  is  to  help 
and  forward  God's  purpose  of  good  towards  them. 

It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  here  as  elsewhere  prayer 
operates  within  certain  limits.  There  are  sicknesses  of  body 
and  of  mind  which,  in  this  or  in  that  individual,  are  permanent 
handicaps.  They  mark  the  limitations  within  which  the  par- 
ticular life  must  be  lived.  In  the  presence  of  these  distresses 
nnist  the  voice  of  prayer  be  silenced,  and  must  they  be  borne  in 
stoic  resignation,  uncomforted  of  God?  On  the  contrary, 
they  offer  the  greatest  opportunity  for  the  display  of  prayer's 
triumphant  power.  The  classic  illustration  is  that  of  the 
Apostle  Paul.  He  had  been  commissioned  to  undertake  a  task 
that  might  well  tax  the  energies,  physical  and  mental,  of  a 
giant,  but  some  bodily  infirmity  retarded  the  outgoings  of  his 
noble  spirit.  "  A  thorn  in  the  flesh  "  was  given  him.  He 
"  besought  the  Lord  thrice,"  that  is,  repeatedly,  to  relieve  him 
of  this  rc5traint.  He  was  answered,  but  not  by  the  cure  of  the 
malady,     The  thorn  in  the  flesh  was  left  to  inflict  its  pain,  but 


64  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  pain  was  swallowed  up  in  a  greater  glory ;  the  Divine  grace 
was  to  be  made  perfect  in  weakness,^*'  and  the  cause  to  which 
St.  Paul  had  given  his  heart  was  to  gain  by  this  spectacle  of  a 
soul  transcending  the  inadequacies  of  the  body  through  the 
consciousness  of  contact  with  a  higher  world.  Such  suffering, 
typical  of  many  spiritual  biographies,  not  only  ripens  the  char- 
acter of  the  sufferer  but  casts  a  spell  on  all  who  are  within  the 
radius  of  its  influence.  It  is  this  triumph  of  the  mind  over  the 
body,  of  the  soul  over  suffering,  that  gives  evidence  of  a  spirit- 
ual life  whose  roots  go  down  into  the  invisible  and  eternal 
world.  It  speaks  to  us  of  immortality.  Through  prayer,  pain, 
though  in  itself  an  evil,  is  transmuted  into  good. 

Lastly,  it  is  obvious  that  prayer  is  limited  by  a  necessary- 
condition  of  human  existence.  There  is  a  final  sickness,  the 
last  conflict  between  the  forces  of  life  and  the  forces  of  death. 
Here  prayer  for  recovery  is  futile,  because  out  of  harmony  with 
the  Supreme  Will.  Our  hour  has  come,  and  the  summons  that 
calls  us  elsewhere  cannot  be  denied.  But  prayer  can  meet  this 
last  and  most  crucial  emergency  and  transform  defeat  into 
victory.  It  can  suppress  all  doubts  and  misgivings.  It  can 
cast  out,  and  keep  out,  the  fear  that  death  may  prove  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  soul,  the  end  of  love.  It  can  lift  the  soul  to  a 
height  where  the  splendour  of  God  awaits  it.  Has  your  prayer 
for  the  life  of  some  loved  one  been  broken  against  the  dark 
barrier  of  the  grave,  and  do  you  now  resign  yourself  in  loveless 
submission  to  the  senseless  cruelty  of  a  brute  universe?  Yet 
reflect  —  is  it  nothing  to  you  that  by  prayer  you  can  gain  the 
joyful  conviction  that  your  loved  one  is  safe  in  God,  and  that 
in  God  you  will  find  him  again,  and  find  him  worthier  to  be 
loved?  Is  it  nothing  to  you  that  by  prayer  you  can  win  the 
assurance  that  death  is  only  an  episode  in  the  onward  march  of 
life;  that  life  is  everlasting,  and  that  there  is  no  good  too  fair 
for  God  to  give  His  child?  It  is  in  prayer  that  the  mind, 
oppressed  by  the  burden  of  the  immediate  present,  flings  off 
the  incubus  and  sees  the  perspective  of  the  world  as  it  exists  to 
the  eve  of  the  Eternal. 

And  what  about  our  relation  to  those  in  the  spirit-world? 
Are  they  beyond  the  reach  of  our  desire  and  thought?  May 
it  not  be  that  we  over-estimate  death?  After  all,  it  is  a  purely 
physical  process,  works  no  metamorphosis  on  the  human  spirit, 
alters  not  a  single  one  of  its  moral  and  spiritual  relations.  To 
cease  to  pray  for  one  who  has  passed  through  the  experience 

19  2  Cor.  xii,  7-9. 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  65 

of  death  must  mean  either  that  death  is  the  end  or  that  the 
world  into  wiiich  it  ushers  the  soul  is  static  in  character,  ad- 
mitting of  no  spiritual  movement  —  which  latter  notion  robs 
the  life  hereafter  of  all  interest  or  value  to  any  rational  intelli- 
gence. Surely  it  is  more  in  harmony  with  right  reason  and  the 
genius  of  the  Christian  religion  to  believe  that  the  spiritual  laws 
which  obtain  in  the  present  order  of  existence  are  valid  so  far 
as  human  experience  extends.  With  our  prayers  we  may 
follow  our  dead  into  "  that  After-life,"  and  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  our  desires  and  petitions  can  help  them 
amid  their  duties,  experiences,  and  responsibilities.  Nor  can 
we  doubt  that  as  long  as  they  retain  memory  and  consciousness 
they  will  not  fail  to  think  of  us  and  to  breathe  a  prayer  that 
with  us  also  all  may  be  well. 

V.  The  Meaning  of  Prayer  for  the  Church^ 
THE  Nation,  and  the  World 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  prayer  is  restricted  to 
ourselves  and  our  immediate  circle.  It  tends  to  become  more 
and  more  unselfish,  to  go  out  to  ever  widening  circles,  and 
indeed,  it  cannot  stop  short  until  all  humanity  shares  its  bene- 
diction. "  In  our  prayers,"  says  George  Meredith,  "  we  dedi- 
cate the  whole  w^orld  to  God."  Yet  if  our  prayers  are  to  be 
real,  and  such  as  are  likely  to  move  our  wills  in  the  direction 
of  the  good  prayed  for,  we  must  not  rest  with  vague  and 
abstract  notions.  If  our. prayers  are  to  work,  they  must  be 
concrete. 

Now  there  are  two  great  orders  or  institutions  which  repre- 
sent different  aspects  of  that  Kingdom  for  the  coming  of  which 
Christ  taught  us  to  pray.  These  are  the  Church  and  the 
Nation.  We  are  to  pray  for  our  own  particular  church  in  so 
far  as  its  spirit  and  teaching  reflect  the  mind  of  God,  and  more 
especiallv  ought  we  to  pray  for  the  "  whole  congregation  of 
Christ's  faithful  people  scattered  throughout  the  world."  Tak- 
ing the  word  Church  in  this  larger  sense,  there  are  in  particular 
two  great  causes  which  claim  our  interest,  the  Church's  unity 
and  her  missionary  enterprise.  But  to  pray  for  these  objects 
implies,  if  our  prayer  is  to  be  anything  more  than  a  mechanical 
repetition  of  words,  that  we  know  what  the  Church  stands  for; 
what  she  is  intended  to  accomplish  in  the  world ;  what  are  the 
causes  of  the  "  unhappy  divisions  "  that  mar  her  usefulness  and 
grace,  and  the  means  by  which  they  may  be  removed,  and  how 


66  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

best  to  seize  every  occasion  which  may  come  our  way  to  illus- 
trate the  unity  for  which  we  pray.  The  same  thing  is  true  of 
prayer  for  missions.  If  we  believe  that  the  Christian  religion 
is  the  final  revelation  of  God's  purpose  of  redemption  for  man, 
we  must  feel  that  it  would  be  well  for  all  men  to  become 
Christians,  In  proportion  as  this  conviction  lays  hold  of  us 
our  prayers  will  rise  in  intensity  and  assurance.  Here,  also, 
we  must  pray  not  only  with  the  spirit  but  with  the  understand- 
ing. We  must  know  something  of  the  rise  and  progress  and 
methods  of  the  missionary  movement;  of  the  deep-rooted 
hindrances,  racial  and  religious,  to  the  acceptance  of  the  gospel 
message,  and  the  best  means  of  surmounting  them.  Hence,  in 
order  to  give  reality  and  dynamic  quality  to  our  petitions  we 
shall  probably  find  it  necessary  to  concentrate  our  thoughts 
on  a  definite  area  of  the  missionary  field ;  to  know  what  the 
workers  are  doing  in  this  special  region;  to  understand  their 
difficulties;  to  mobilise  all  our  energies  for  their  support;  to 
study  the  social,  political,  and  religious  environment  of  their 
activity.  All  this  would  have  a  reflex  influence  on  our  prayers 
and  these  in  turn  would  kindle  the  enthusiasm  and  faith  with- 
out which  our  interest  and  effort  must  gradually  fade  and  die. 

But  we  are  not  only  members  of  a  Church;  we  belong  to  a 
Nation.  What  do  we  mean  by  "  a  nation  "  ?  We  mean  an 
organism,  at  once  political,  economic,  and  psychic,  within 
which  individuals  exercise  rights,  discharge  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities under  the  influence  of  common  traditions  and  ideals, 
more  or  less  consciously  realised.  Humanity  ceases  to  be  an 
abstraction  and  becomes  concrete,  vital,  and  real  in  and  through 
the  various  nations  by  which  it  is  organised.  Sentimental 
humanitarianism,  which  bids  us  direct  our  life  and  service  as 
much  to  foreign  countries  as  to  our  own,  is  untrue  to  reality 
and  cuts  at  the  root  of  all  idealism.  The  individual  needs 
the  nation  as  a  medium  through  which  the  great  creative  im- 
pulses of  humanity  may  reach  him  and  shape  him  to  higher 
ends. 

One  of  the  great  principles  which  the  war  is  likely  to 
enthrone  once  more  in  the  consciousness  of  man,  is  the  sacred- 
ness  of  nations,  great  and  small  alike,  and  the  moral  obliga- 
tion resting  on  the  world  to  see  to  it  that  even  the  weakest 
and  least  considered  unit  of  national  life  shall  have  unhindered 
opportunity  to  develop  its  own  qualities  and  to  achieve  its  own 
destiny.  The  nation  is  the  Divinely  appointed  order  within 
which   the   individual   comes   to  self-realisation.     If   this   be 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  67 

tnie,  it  follows  that  here  also  is  a  sphere  of  intercessory 
prayer.  To-day  men  are  forced  to  think  in  terms  no  longer 
merely  of  the  individual  but  of  the  nation,  and  through  the 
nation  of  the  world. 

What  significance  then  has  prayer  for  the  growth  and  puri- 
fication of  national  ideals?  Much  in  every  way.  To  begin 
with;  prayer  in  its  highest  form,  as  it  is  enshrined  in  the 
Christian  religion,  implies  a  certain  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  praying  soul  to  all  other  souls,  and  this  attitude  tends  to 
express  itself  in  outer  social  and  political  forms.  The  God 
to  Whom  we  pray  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  He  knows  no 
privileged  classes.  "  He  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and 
the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust."  ^" 
This  universalism  of  the  Divine  love  which  has  regard  to  each 
individual  in  accordance  with  his  needs  and  capacities  is  itself 
an  integral  element  in  the  perfection  of  the  Deity.  Hence  so 
far  as  I  approximate  to  the  Divine  ideal,  I,  in  praying  to  God, 
shall  view  my  fellows  as  He  views  them,  shall  ask  for  each 
what  I  ask  for  myself,  power  to  realise  his  best  self  in  all 
directions  —  to  do  the  will  of  the  common  Father.  But 
prayer  of  this  order  implies  ideals  that  are  essentially  demo- 
cratic in  character.  For  I  cannot  sincerely  pray  for  my 
brother  man  in  these  temis  and  at  the  same  time  refuse  him 
any  social  or  political  or  religious  right ;  nor  can  I  decline  to 
do  all  that  in  me  lies  to  create  an  environment  favourable 
to  the  development  of  all  his  capacities  and  aptitudes.  Prayer 
from  this  point  of  view  may  be  described  as  a  school  of  dis- 
cipline in  the  virtues  that  ought  to  characterise  a  democratic 
society. 

As  prayer  for  the  individual  aims  at  a  knowledge  of  the 
Divine  will,  and  power  to  translate  the  knowledge  into  life, 
so  prayer  for  the  nation  means  that  he  who  prays  is  sincerely 
desirous  that  the  national  will  may  become  the  expression  of 
the  Divine  purpose.  In  praying  for  the  nation  we  desire  that 
economic  justice  may  prevail  between  class  and  class;  that  evil 
customs  entrenched  behind  organised  interests  may  be  over- 
thrown ;  that  intemperance,  greed,  gambling,  degraded  and 
degrading  amusements  may  be  beaten  out  of  the  national  life. 
We  desire,  in  a  word,  that  the  soul  of  the  State  may  be 
pure  and  strong,  rich  in  ethical  achievement  and  reverent  to- 
wards all  truth  and  beauty  wherever  they  may  be  found.  The 
potency  of  such  prayers  will  be  in  proportion  as  the  worshipper 

20  Matt  V.  4S. 


68  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

is  convinced  that  God  is  interested  in  the  development  of 
nations  and  becomes  himself  an  organ  for  the  achievement  of 
God's  ends.  An  idealism  that  is  rooted  in  mystical  fellowship 
with  God  tends  to  actualise  itself  in  the  creation  of  a  nobler 
social  and  political  order. 

From  the  nation  within  which  our  special  duties  and  tasks 
are  fulfilled  we  pass  out  into  the  great  world  of  humanity. 
To  the  world  of  living  men  and  women  we  also  owe  a  duty 
which  can  be  discharged  only  through  the  right  and  sympa- 
thetic attitude  of  the  nation  of  which  we  are  members  to  all 
other  nations.  The  Kingdom  which  is  coming  means  in  part 
the  reign  of  righteousness  and  good- will,  and  our  yearning 
will  pour  itself  forth  to  Him  Who  is  over  all  and  in  all,  Who 
assigns  to  each  people  its  role  in  history,  and  Who  appoints 
to  each  its  special  gifts  for  the  enrichment  of  the  common  life 
of  the  world.  We  ought  to  pray  for  the  destruction  of  war 
and  for  the  reign  of  peace.  Yet  here  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  the  absence  of  conflict  between  nations,  or  between  social 
groups  in  the  same  nation,  has  no  moral  quality  whatever. 
We  dare  not  ask  God  to  grant  us  a  peace  which  would  sacri- 
fice the  spiritual  ideal  for  the  sake  of  which  life  is  given 
us.  The  ideal  takes  the  first  place,  and  if  through  peace  it  is 
set  at  nought,  then  an  appeal  to  the  sword,  frightful  as  it  is, 
may  turn  out  to  be  the  highest  mercy.  After  all  it  is  not  the 
injuries  which  shot  and  shell  inflict  on  the  body  that  can  hurt 
the  deepest  and  most  essential  life.  They  can  mangle  the 
flesh,  but  are  powerless  to  touch  the  soul.  Only  what  the 
soul  thinks,  and  believes  and  wills  can  disturb  its  destiny. 
We  must  be  careful  not  to  let  our  minds  be  obsessed  with 
the  notion  that  war,  under  the  conditions  of  a  sinful  world, 
is  always  an  evil  and  nothing  but  an  evil.  If  ever  we  are 
tempted  to  entertain  such  a  thought,  surely  a  glance  at  the 
stupendous  events  taking  place  about  us  would  suffice  to  teach 
us  better.  The  world-struggle  in  its  ferocity  and  immensity 
of  horror  makes  all  words  futile,  and  the  lover  of  his  kind 
may  well  cry  to  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  "  How  long,  O 
Lord,  how  long?  " 

Yet  who  can  deny  that  in  the  heat  of  fires  lit  by  human 
crime  and  passion  are  being  burned  up  the  false  gods  of 
government  and  the  wrongs  born  of  a  thousand  years  of 
human  misconception  and  injustice?  And  as  we  see  the  dread 
operation  of  ethical  laws  working  out  their  appointed  con- 
sequences in  the  life  of  humanity,  is  it  not  a  true  instinct 


MEANING,  REALITY,  AND  POWER  69 

which  impels  us  to  echo  the  words  of  one  of  the  tenderest  and 
most  loving  of  modern  poets: 

Mine  eyes  liave  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord ; 
He  is  trampling  out  the  vintage  where  tlic  grapes  of  wrath  are  stored ; 
lie  hath  loosed  the  fatefnl  lightning  of  His  terrible,  swift  sword; 
His   truth   is   marching  on.-i 

Ought  we  then,  amid  the  crash  of  conllict,  to  suppress  the 
voice  of  entreaty,  beseeching  God  for  peace?  On  the  con- 
trary, we  are  to  pray  for  it  more  fervently  than  ever.  But 
the  peace  which  we  need  is  one  which  is  the  product  of 
righteousness ;  any  other  is  a  sham  and  a  counterfeit.  He  to 
Whom  we  pray  is  Lord  of  peace,  because  He  is  first  of  all 
Lord  of  righteousness.  Therefore  to  make  our  prayers  potent 
for  good,  we  must  ourselves  extirpate  the  tendencies  and 
passions  that  make  for  war,  such  as  greed  of  gold,  domination 
of  one  class  over  another,  the  national  egoism  that  mocks 
the  rights  of  other  nationalities  and  denies  their  claim  to  free 
self-realisation.  Moreover  we  must  organise  our  educational 
forces  so  that  upon  the  mind  of  the  rising  generation  may 
be  impressed  the  ideal  of  peace  as  the  necessary  condition  of 
a  worthy  human  existence. 

We  are  summoned  to  co-operate  with  God  in  translating 
our  hopes  into  reality.  Thus  in  prayer  God  gives  to  man  a 
real  share  in  the  government  of  the  world.  He  does  not  drag 
the  human  race  after  Him,  nor  does  He  propel  it  by  force  along 
some  predestined  path.  On  the  contrary,  H^e  seeks  the  fel- 
lowship and  free  collaboration  of  filial  spirits.  Every  step 
forward  in  the  evolution  of  the  human  life  is  the  fruit,  not 
of  man's  unaided  striving,  nor  yet  of  God's  compulsive 
energy,  but  of  a  league  wherein  suggestive  inspiration  and 
encouragement  offered  by  the  Father  are  met  with  prayers 
and  aspirations,  crowned  by  efifort  and  obedience  on  the  part 
of  His  children.  If  all  throughout  the  world  who  really 
believe  in  prayer  should  unite  in  intercession  for  the  progress 
of  art  and  knowledge  and  discovery,  the  elevation  of  the  poor 
and  unprivileged,  the  union  of  civilised  peoples  in  the  interest 
of  the  uncivilised,  the  spread  of  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  and 
unitv,  the  reign  of  justice  and  good-will,  the  growth  of  a 
world-democracy  in  which  Right  should  be  enthroned  lord 
of  all.  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  the  lifetime  of  a  single 
generation  would  witness  the  dawn  of  the  millennial   era? 

21  Julia  Ward  Howe,  The  Battle  Hymn  of  (he  Republic, 


70  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

All  we  need  to  do  is  to  have  such  prayers  inspired  with  faith 
that  these  great  things  are  possible.  Out  of  prayer  of  this 
order  will  rise  mighty  concerted  movements,  organising  the 
spiritual  resources  of  humanity,  and  fusing  all  hearts  in  a 
r-eative  enthusiasm  fired  with  the  vision  of  a  new  world  — 
a  world  resplendent  in  the  holy  light  of  freedom,  blessedness, 
and  peace. 

APPENDIX 

QUESTIONNAIRE  ON  PRAYER 

1.  Have  you   ever  engaged   in   prayer?     If   so,   occasionally,   or   as 

a  habit? 

2.  To  whom  or  to  what  were  your  prayersi  directed? 

3.  If  you  were  in  the  habit  of  praying,  did  you  give  it  up,  and  if 

so,  why? 

4.  Did  you  ever  experience  conversion  or  a  change  of  habits  in  answer 

to  prayer? 

5.  Do  you  think  that  any  of  your  prayers  were  answered?     If  so, 

what  form  did  the  answer  take?  Was  the  answer  purely 
internal,  that  is,  affecting  the  state  of  the  mind;  and  did  it 
also  include  fulfilment  in  some  external  event? 


Ill 

PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE 

BY 

The  Rev.  S.  H.  MELLONE,  D.Sc. 

PRINCIPAL     OF     THE     UNITARIAN      HOME     MISSIONARY     COLLEGE.      MANCHESTER, 
AND    LECTURER    ON    PHILOSOPHY    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    MANCHESTER 


Ill 

PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE 

I.  The  Meaning  of  Prayer  as  an  Act  of  the 

Human  Mind 

The  history  of  religion  establishes  the  fact  that  prayer  has 
always  been  a  consciously  personal  appeal  to  a  personal  being. 
In  the  more  primitive  faiths  the  being  addressed  is  either  be- 
lieved to  be  personal  or  treated  as  if  it  were  personal.  And 
although  we  find  that  as  men's  ideas  of  personality  and  its 
possibilities  have  been  moralised  and  spiritualised,  so  have 
their  ideas  of  prayer;  yet  prayer  is  always  the  address  of  per- 
sonal spirit  to  personal  spirit.  The  problem  of  prayer  is  to 
understand  and  realise  the  basis  of  this  act  and  its  working 
value  in  human  life. 

We  must  first  define  or  describe  this  act  as  it  appears  when 
regarded  from  the  human  or  subjective  side.  We  use  the 
word  "  act  "  advisedly.  That  power  in  the  soul  which  we 
name  "  the  will  "  does  not  in  prayer  merely  impel  us  to  make 
the  first  mental  effort;  it  enters  vitally  into  the  very  action 
of  the  prayer  itself.  Prayer  is  not  simply  the  feeling  of 
various  impulses,  wishes,  or  wants.  It  does  not  begin  until 
the  man  not  only  feels  the  want  but  deliberately  makes  it  a 
personal  desire  of  his  own  and  thinks  of  a  personal  good  to  be 
attained  or  evil  to  be  avoided  in  the  filling  of  the  want. 
Prayer,  therefore,  depends  on  a  man's  conception  of  some 
personal  satisfaction  to  be  attained  in  the  fulfilment  of  a  desire ; 
not  necessarily  a  selfish  satisfaction,  for  it  may  arise  through 
his  interest  in  others,  and  may  be  sought  in  spite  of  any  amount 
of  suffering  on  his  part  incidental  to  its  attainment.  Indeed, 
anything  that  a  man  cares  about  may  be  made  the  subject  of 
prayer,  if  he  cares  enough  about  it  to  identify  himself  for 
the  time  being  with  the  desire  for  it  —  anything  from  the 
wants  connected  with  his  material  welfare  up  to  the  highest 
aspirations  after  moral  strength  and  religious  peace,  after 
the  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  Will  in  the  individual  life  and  in 

7Z 


74  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  Kingdom  of  God.  We  say  "  may  be  made  the  subject  of 
prayer,"  because  for  the  moment  we  are  considering  the  mean- 
ing of  prayer  from  the  human  side  only.  It  is  the  voluntary 
identification  of  one's  self  with  a  particular  desire.  This 
brings  out  the  element  of  will  in  prayer;  and  for  this  reason 
we  defined  prayer  as  at  least  a  "  personal  mental  act." 

It  may  now  be  said,  What  then  is  the  difference  between 
a  prayer  and  a  voluntary  action,  in  the  ordinary  meaning  of 
the  words?  What  is  the  difference  between  a  prayer  and  a 
deed?  There  is  a  close  connection  between  the  two  things; 
and  from  this  connection  the  maxim  lahorarc  est  orarc  derives 
whatever  truth  and  force  it  contains.  There  is,  however,  a 
very  important  difference.  Prayer  always  points  beyond  the 
reach  of  our  own  voluntary  action.  In  conduct,  in  what  I 
do,  I  am  dealing  with  the  visible  world  in  which  I  live ; 
but  prayer  always  looks  through  the  seen  into  the  unseen. 
Nevertheless  the  identification  of  prayer  with  "  work  "  —  that 
is,  with  man's  productive  or  creative  activity  —  requires  a 
brief  examination. 

If  work  is  prayer  we  answer  our  own  prayers,  but  only  on 
one  condition.  The  condition  may  be  expressed  as  in  the 
famous  aphorism  of  Francis  Bacon :  "  Man,  the  servant  and 
interpreter  of  nature,  understands  and  accomplishes  just  so 
much  as  he  has  learnt  concerning  the  laws  of  nature  by  ob- 
servation and  reflection."  What  in  theory  stands  as  a  cause, 
learnt  from  nature,  in  practice  stands  as  a  rule  for  our  guid- 
ance in  altering  nature.  Only  so  can  knowledge  give  power; 
only  so  can  science  do  what  she  has  done.  By  knowledge  and 
obedience  nature  is  conquered.  The  laws  of  nature  may  be 
turned  in  many  ways  to  human  benefit;  but  it  is  always  by 
skill,  force,  science ;  in  no  case  is  it  by  mere  longing  or  aspira- 
tion, still  less  by  the  breath  or  tongue,  however  earnest.  But 
if  so,  why  speak  of  "prayer"  at  all?  Is  it  not  almost  an 
abuse  of  language  to  say  that  "  when  a  workman  wants  iron 
hammered  he  silently  and  practically  '  prays  '  to  the  law  of 
gravitation,  and  the  weight  of  the  planet  brings  down  his 
trip-hammer,"  or  that  "  the  shape  of  the  ship  is  man's 
'  prayer  '  to  the  waves  "  ? 

There  is  indeed  something  of  intrinsic  importance  and  sug- 
gestiveness  to  be  learnt  from  this  paradoxical  identification. 
The  progress  of  human  knowledge  leads  us  to  believe  that 
there  are  natural  powers  and  resources  close  around  us  which, 
could  we  lay  hold  on  them,  would  help  us  to  achieve  vastly  more 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  75 

than  mankind  yet  hopes  for.  And  we  lay  hold  on  these  re- 
sources first  by  submissively  learning  the  laws  of  their  operation 
and  then  by  using  them  in  obedience  to  the  knowledge  so 
gained,  and  always  in  the  confidence  that  Nature's  laws  are 
constant  and  that  she  will  not  put  us  to  confusion.  Conviction 
that  higher  resources  are  at  hand  for  our  aid  and  that  the  way 
to  reach  them  is  the  way  of  obedience  and  faith  —  these 
things  are  of  the  essence  of  prayer.  To  identify  prayer  with 
work  is  to  grasp  a  fragment  of  the  truth,  or  rather  to  bring 
out  a  valuable  analogy ;  but  that  is  all,  unless  we  are  to  conclude 
that  prayer  is  nothing  but  applied  science. 

If,  then,  it  is  paradoxical  to  identify  prayer  with  work,  is  it 
possible  to  identify  prayer  with  desire?  We  have  urged  that 
personal  desire  is  part  of  the  essential  meaning  of  prayer; 
can  we  say  that  it  is  the  whole  of  it?  There  are  those  who 
are  content  to  say  that  "  prayer  is  desire,"  and  to  find  the 
answer  to  prayer  in  the  fact  that  each  desire  is  a  seed  carrying 
within  it  its  own  fruition,  bringing  forth  its  own  punishment 
or  reward.  A  good  desire  relates  us  to  the  good  and  the 
true,  and  is  the  premonitory  symptom  of  a  larger  and  better 
life;  an  evil  desire  destroys  mental  and  physical  energy  and 
involves  the  inner  life  in  suffering  and  decay.  The  history  of 
religion  shows  that  when  men  were  moved  by  intense  faith 
the  subject  of  their  prayer  was  the  supreme  desire  of  their 
hearts  —  a  thing  which  they  desired  so  ardently  that  they 
brought  it  into  the  presence  of  the  Divine  Power.  Such  de- 
sires with  which  the  soul  is  identified  produce  real  inner  effects 
according  to  well-known  psychological  laws,  and  when  men 
passionately  desire  a  thing  and  firmly  believe  that  they  can 
have  it,  their  desire  and  belief  may  take  them  far  on  the  way 
to  its  attainment. 

All  this  is  true ;  none  the  less  desire  in  itself  is  only  the 
beginning  of  prayer;  it  is  the  human  side  of  it  with  its  Divine 
implications  and  possibilities  left  out.  To  identify  prayer  with 
desire  has  indeed  the  merit  of  bringing  it  into  relation  with 
the  nature  of  things  and  with  the  great  Order  on  which  the 
universe  is  built.  But  in  itself  it  is  not  a  solution  of  the 
religious  problem  of  prayer,  because  it  is  still  an  incomplete 
definition  of  what  prayer  means  for  religion. 

Prayer  is  not  only  the  act  of  conscious  self-identification 
with  a  desire;  it  is  the  offering  of  the  desire  to  a  Divine  Being 
Who  is  recognised  as  personal  and  as  able  to  respond.  On 
such  a  Power  men  feel  themselves  to  be  dependent ;  and  in  all 


76  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  higher  forms  of  faith  they  ascribe  to  Him  superhuman 
wisdom  and  goodness  as  well  as  power.  It  is  therefore  almost 
a  psychological  necessity  that  prayer  should  take  the  petitionary 
form  —  the  natural  form  in  which  the  sense  of  dependence 
finds  expression;  for  even  in  the  hidden  life  of  the  spirit  we 
are  perpetually  reminded  how  great  our  needs  are,  and  how 
small  is  the  provision  we  have  made  to  meet  the  dangers,  temp- 
tations, and  perplexities  that  surround  us.  Petition  is  not  the 
whole  of  prayer;  but  it  is  a  legitimate  and  necessary  part  of 
it,  flowing  from  the  imperfection  and  incompleteness  of 
human  life.  It  is,  again,  almost  a  psychological  necessity 
that  petition  should  take  the  verbal  form.  It  is  true  that  no 
human  quality  can  fully  utter  itself  in  speech.  Readers  of 
Browning  will  be  familiar  with  this  thought,  and  with  the  pas- 
sionate denial  that 

this  coil 
Of  statement,  commend,  query,  and  response, 
Tatters  all  too  contaminate  for  use, 

can  come  between  the  human  heart  and  the  Divine.  None 
the  less  we  cannot  throw  away  our  instruments  because  they 
are  imperfect,  when  we  have  no  others  to  use.  Desire  involves 
thought :  we  must  at  least  have  some  idea  of  what  it  is  that 
we  desire.  And  one  of  the  most  significant  facts  of  our 
mental  life  is  that  thought  can  make  no  progress  without  em- 
bodying itself  in  language.  A  Scottish  thinker  illustrated  the 
mutual  dependence  of  thought  and  language  thus :  an  army 
may  overrun  a  country,  but  the  country  is  only  conquered  by 
the  establishment  of  fortresses.  Words  are  the  "  fortresses  " 
of  thought.  And  in  tunnelling  throught  a  sandbank  it  is  im- 
possible to  proceed  until  the  present  position  is  made  secure 
by  an  arch  of  masonry.  Words  are  such  "  arches  "  for  the 
mind.  The  words  may  pass  silently  through  the  mind,  but 
they  are  there.  In  this  way  the  feeling  from  which  a  desire 
springs  always  seeks  to  complete  itself  by  finding  some  expres- 
sion, however  imperfect,  in  words. 

This  fact  gives  rise  to  a  dangerous  error  which,  we  believe, 
is  the  source  of  most  of  the  current  loss  of  faith  in  prayer. 
The  danger  lies  in  imagining  that  prayer  only  means  asking 
for  something  material  or  spiritual;  that  the  answer  consists 
in  obtaining  what  we  have  asked  for  just  because  of  our  asking, 
and  that  prayer  differs  from  ordinary  begging,  as  when  a 
poor  man  asks  a  rich  man  for  alms,  only  in  respect  of  the 
Person  to  whom  it  is  addressed.     This  is  to  confuse  prayer 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  yy 

with  beggary;  and  by  "  beggary  "  we  mean  asking  for  some- 
thing and  giving  nothing.  One  of  the  great  laws  of  the  inner 
Hfe  is  that  in  order  to  receive  we  must  give  —  nothing  for 
nothing,  httle  for  httle,  much  for  much,  all  for  all.  Good- 
ness cannot  be  had  for  the  earnest  asking  any  more  than 
knowledge  can;  if  prayer  were  only  asking  it  could  not  make 
the  foolish  mind  wise  any  more  than  it  could  make  the  barren 
soil  fertile.  A  prayer  is  at  once  a  thought,  a  feeling,  and  an 
endeavour.  This  takes  us  beyond  the  stage  of  mere  asking, 
alike  in  spiritual  and  in  material  things.  Such  prayer, 
while  it  seeks  one  expression  through  the  lips,  inevitably  seeks 
another  through  the  brain,  heart,  and  hand;  it  is  an  actual 
expression  of  an  inward  force  proceeding  in  our  life;  it  gains 
in  strength  and  value  by  shaping  before  the  mind  just  what  it 
aims  at,  defining  an  ideal,  and  setting  it  free  from  everything 
unworthy  to  be  offered  to  God. 

Prayer  is  the  movement  of  the  soul  putting  itself  into 
"  personal  relation  with  the  mysterious  Power  Whose  presence 
it  feels  even  before  it  is  able  to  give  it  a  name."  This  is  the 
most  unquestionably  fundamental  aspect  of  prayer.  William 
James  pointed  out  the  central  importance  of  this  fact  when 
he  defined  prayer  as  "  every  kind  of  inward  communion  or 
converse  with  the  Power  recognised  as  Divine."  James  calls 
this  "  prayer  in  the  wider  sense,"  and  he  rightly  distinguishes 
it  from  prayer  as  petition.^  It  is  extremely  important  to 
distinguish  the  two  things,  but  it  is  equally  important  to  grasp 
once  for  all  the  fact  that  they  are  not  to  be  separated.  The 
essence  of  prayer  is  petition  in  and  through  communion.  All 
the  difficulties  and  perplexities  of  prayer,  and  all  its  possibilities 
of  spiritual  strength  and  power,  spring  from  this  union  of  the 
two  acts, 

II.  Prayer  as  an  Offering  to  God 

We  have  urged  that  prayer  is  not  only  another  name  for 
spiritual  communion  with  God ;  it  stands  for  a  specific  form 
which  that  communion  may  take.  It  does  not  involve  the 
exclusion  of  petition,  nor  even  the  resolution  of  all  petitions 
into  the  one  aspiration  of  Quietism  —  "  Thy  will  be  done." 
It  is  the  offering  of  our  soul's  sincere  desire  to  God  in  order 
that  the  personal  petition,  without  losing  its  distinctive  mean- 
ing, may  be  blended  and  fused  into  one  whole  with  conscious 

1  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  pp.  463  flf.,  467  ff. 


78  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

acquiescence  and  rest  in  the  Divine  will  —  "  O  my  Father,  if 
it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  away  from  me:  nevertheless, 
not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt.  .  .  .  O  my  Father,  if  this  can- 
not pass  away,  except  I  drink  it,  thy  will  be  done.  .  .  .  And 
there  appeared  unto  him  an  angel  from  heaven,  strengthening 
him :  and  being  in  an  agony,  he  prayed  more  earnestly." 

Prayer  is  not  the  annihilation  of  desire.  Mere  submission, 
mere  resignation,  mere  surrender,  are  not  prayer.  Even 
contemplation  of  the  character  of  God,  even  communion  with 
Him,  if  it  is  such  that  it  ends  in  mere  yielding  of  ourselves 
to  His  will,  is  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the  theistic 
fatalism  of  Islam,  with  its  submission  to  the  inexorable  will 
which  it  calls  God. 

On  the  other  hand,  prayer  is  not  the  holding  of  the  desire 
as  though  it  were  the  greatest  good  or  the  supremely  perfect 
blessing.  No  human  desire  can  be  that.  Even  a  desire 
which  is  not  apparently  but  really  good,  is  not  to  be 
held  as  though  it  were  absolutely  and  unconditionally 
good.  At  its  best  it  is  the  expression  of  a  man's  as- 
piration —  a  man,  with  human  imperfections,  weaknesses, 
limitations.  Such  a  man  as  Luther  may  indeed  identify  his 
cause  with  God's  cause,  and  his  enemies  with  God's  enemies : 
"  I  know  that  Thou  art  our  Father  and  our  God ;  I  know, 
therefore,  that  Thou  art  about  to  destroy  the  persecutors  of 
Thy  children.  H  Thou  doest  this  not,  then  our  danger  is 
Thine  too.  This  business  is  wholly  Thine ;  we  come  into  it 
under  compulsion.  Thou,  therefore,  defend."  But  such  con- 
fidence is  not  for  ordinary  men.  The  human  race  is  still 
in  its  childhood.  The  unfolding  of  our  distinctive  human 
faculties  is  only  beginning.  In  every  respect  we  are  not  merely 
undeveloped  and  imperfect  beings  but  are  at  an  early  stage  of 
development.  This  is  true  of  our  individual  capacities  and  of 
our  social  relationships.  The  highest  good  that  we  can  desire 
is  but  a  broken  fragment  of  that  Perfect  Good  which  eye  saw 
not,  ear  heard  not,  and  which  entered  not  into  the  heart  of 
man.  If  our  broken  fragment  of  desire  is  really  good,  it  is 
because  it  contains  within  it  a  gleam  from  the  perfect  Light, 
a  living  spark  from  the  central  Fire. 

The  thought  of  God  means  nothing  less  than  the  greatest 
conceivable  perfection  of  Wisdom,  Righteousness,  and  Love. 
My  thought  of  that  perfection  must  be  limited  by  my  igno- 
rance and  many  other  conditions  of  my  finite  humanity.  But 
when  I  really  pray,  I  have  a  desire  which  I  have  made  part  of 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  79 

myself  and  I  offer  it  to  the  most  perfect  Will  of  which  I 
can  form  any  apprehension.  I\ly  perception  of  God  may  be 
very  dim  and  diffused,  but  it  is  none  the  less  the  soul's  aspira- 
tion towards  its  true  object. 

Through  the  age-long  story  of  human  religion  we  seem  to 
hear  the  spirit  of  man  slowly  learning  to  ask  a  question  and 
build  its  life  on  the  answer:  "What  is  all  this  universe  to 
me?  What  has  it  to  do  with  my  life?  Is  there  anything 
in  me  which  has  relation  to  earth  and  air,  sun  and  star,  the 
depths  of  space  and  time,  the  mysterious  Whole  itself?  Is 
there  anything  in  that  Whole  which  has  relation  to  me?  "  Each 
individual  has  proceeded  from  the  immeasurable  universe; 
there  is  in  him  something  of  all  that  exists;  the  procession  of 
ages  and  their  evolutions  are  represented  in  him.  Feeling 
thus  the  possibility  of  a  secret  communion  between  himself 
and  the  universe,  man  becomes  conscious  of  himself  as  per- 
sonal. Hence  religion,  in  every  known  form  of  it,  has  meant 
not  only  some  kind  of  belief  in  a  Power  outside  ourselves  but 
belief  in  a  Power  which  is  akin  to  ourselves,  and  which  —  save 
in  the  lowest  forms  of  faith  —  is  believed  to  exert  an  influence 
on  our  lives  to  which  gratitude  and  reverence  are  our  natural 
and  fitting  response. 

We  have  proceeded  from  this  universe.  We  feel  within  us 
our  relationship  to  the  vast  Order  around  us.  The  spiritual 
treasures  whose  beginnings  are  in  us,  like  the  substance  and 
strength  of  our  bodily  frame,  are  in  us  because  their  fountain- 
head  is  in  the  mysterious  Whole  out  of  which  our  personality 
arises.  And  in  the  end  we  learn  to  say :  Thy  face,  O  Source 
of  all  my  life,  will  I  seek!  O  Reason,  Who  hast  formed  this 
intelligence  in  me.  it  shall  aspire  to  Thee,  and  in  Thy  great 
light  shall  expand !  O  Love,  Who  hast  made  this  heart,  it 
shall  seek  Thy  fulness,  and  in  Thy  strength  be  strong! 

The  impulse  to  pray,  which  thus  arises,  may  be  vague  and 
indeterminate  in  its  course;  it  needs  understanding  and  will  to 
provide  the  conception  of  its  Object,  and  the  guidance  and 
regulation,  order  and  purpose  which  that  conception  implies. 
Tlie  experience  itself  varies  greatly  in  depth  and  intensity  in 
different  people;  but  in  its  mature  form  it  is  a  consciousness 
of  personal  intercourse  with  God,  of  His  openness  to  our 
appeal  and  our  susceptibility  to  His  spirit.  The  verdict  of 
many  souls,  in  every  age,  is  thus  summed  up  by  James  Mar- 
tineau:  "There  is  a  direct  and  mutual  communion  of  spirit 
with  spirit  between  ourselves  and  God,  in  which  He  receives 


8o  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

our  affection  and  gives  a  responsive  breathing  of  His  inspira- 
tion. Such  communion  appears  to  me  to  be  as  certain  a  real- 
ity as  the  daily  intercourse  between  man  and  man;  resting 
upon  evidence  as  positive,  and  declaring  itself  by  results  as 
marked." 

In  offering  "  the  soul's  sincere  desire,  uttered  or  unex- 
pressed," to  God,  we  give  ourselves  to  the  Living  Whole 
out  of  which  our  personality  arises;  we  yield  ourselves  to 
the  Love  and  Wisdom  which  makes  our  love  and  wisdom  pos- 
sible. We  are  sons  of  God,  capable  of  something  more  than 
blind  obedience,  something  more  than  conscious  loyalty.  We 
are  capable  of  fellowship  with  Him  in  one  spirit.  Prayer, 
therefore,  is  not  an  attempt  to  give  God  information,  or  to 
alter  His  will ;  it  is  the  discipline  of  desire,  in  the  light  of 
the  best  consciousness  of  God  that  we  can  attain  unto,  and 
the  endeavour,  through  that  desire,  to  educate  ourselves  into 
communion  with  Him, 

The  ideal  spiritual  purpose  of  prayer  is  thus  explained, 
with  profound  truth  and  simplicity,  by  that  remarkable  rep- 
resentative of  English  mediaeval  mysticism,  Juliana  of  Nor- 
wich. "  Prayer  is  a  right  understanding  of  that  fulness  of 
joy  which  is  to  come,  with  great  longing  and  certain  trust.  .  .  , 
It  belongeth  to  us  to  do  our  diligence  therein,  and  when  we 
have  done  it,  then  shall  we  think  it  nought,  and  in  sooth  it 
is.  But  if  we  do  as  we  can,  and  truly  ask  for  mercy  and 
grace,  all  that  faileth  us  we  shall  find  in  Him.  Our  Lord 
looketh  for  our  prayer,  and  willeth  to  have  it,  because  with 
His  grace  He  would  have  us  like  to  Himself  in  condition  as 
we  are  in  kind.  Therefore  saith  He  to  us,  *  Pray  inwardly, 
although  thou  think  it  has  no  savour  to  thee;  for  it  is  profitable, 
though  thou  feel  not,  though  thou  see  not,  yea  though  thou 
think  thou  canst  not.'  .  .  .  For  all  things  that  our  good  Lord 
maketh  us  to  beseech,  Himself  hath  ordained  them  to  us 
from  without  beginning.  Here  we  may  see  that  our  be- 
seeching is  not  the  cause  of  God's  goodness:  and  that  showed 
He  when  He  said,  *  I  am  the  ground  of  thy  beseechings :  first, 
it  is  My  will  that  thou  have  it,  and  then  I  make  thee  to  wish  it, 
and  then  I  make  thee  to  beseech  it,  and  thou  beseechest  it.'  "  ^ 

The  secret  of  this  was  not  hidden  from  the  "  heathen,"  as 
these  words  from  a  Persian  poet  and  mystic  of  six  centuries 
ago  will  show. 

2  Quoted  in  Inge's  Christian  Mysticism,  pp.  204,  205. 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  8i 

Then    spake    he : 
Oft  have  I  cried,  but  never  an  answer  there  came; 
No  "  here  am   I "   was   vouchsafed  me, 
Nor  word  of  praise  or  blame; 
Closed  is  the  door  against  me ; 
God  hears  not,  nor  sees,  nor  knows. 

Spake  then  again  the  prophet: 
It  is  God  that  hath  sent  me  here, 
Go  to  my  servant,  He  said, 
And  speak  to  him  words  of  cheer. 
Oh,  sorely  tried  and  tempted. 
Art   thou   not   chosen   Mine, 
Created  to  do  Me  service. 
And  pay  tribute  of  praise  divine? 
That  call  of  thine  "  Oh  Allah," 
That  was  My  "  Here  am  I  " ; 
Thy  pain,  and  longing,  and  struggling. 
My  answer  from  on  high  ; 
Thy  fear  and  love  are  My  mercy: 
Thy  prayer.  My  voice  "  It  is  I."  ^ 

The  fact  that  the  human  spirit  is  capable  of  rising  above 
itself,  and  of  passing  judgement  upon  itself,  is  proof  positive 
that  a  Life  which  is  not  finite  and  self-contained,  but  Infinite 
and  Universal,  is  immanent  within  it ;  and  in  religion  we  are 
not  only  thus  conscious  of  a  standard  of  perfection  but  we  are 
incipiently  conscious  of  its  reference  to  a  Present  Reality,  the 
Ground  of  our  existence  and  the  Source  and  Consummation 
of  our  ideals. 

III.  Prayer,  Providence,  and  Law 

We  have  spoken  of  prayer  as  an  offering  to  God ;  offered 
to  God  so  that  more  of  His  will  may  be  in  our  prayers  and 
so  that  in  the  end  and  ideally  our  will  may  be  coincident 
with  His.  This  ideal  spiritual  purpose  of  prayer  holds  good 
whether  the  explicit  petition  is  fulfilled  or  not.  It  implies  that 
prayer  is  an  actual  way  of  communication  between  man  and 
God ;  and  the  basis  of  this  belief  must  always  lie  in  spiritual 
experience,  whether  our  own  or  that  of  some  person  whom 
we  accept  as  spiritual  authority  or  guide. 

The  next  question  to  be  faced  is  this :  Under  what  conditions 
is  the  actual  petition  itself  fulfilled?  How  far  can  we  answer 
this  question?  How  far  can  we  at  any  rate  probe  its  mean- 
ing and  see  what  is  involved  in  it? 

Evidently  it  involves  some  definite  understanding  of  what 
is  meant  by  Divine  Providence. 

We  must  not  allow  faith  in  petitionary  prayer  to  do  duty 

»  The  Masnavi  (in  Trubner's  Oriental  Series),  p.   114. 


82  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

for  faith  in  God.  Faith  in  God  is  a  wider,  deeper  thing,  with 
vaster  issues.  Many  times  a  faithful  Christian  behever  has 
offered  in  the  utmost  sincerity  his  petition  to  God,  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  with  strong  faith  that  it  will  be  granted, 
and  has  done  all  that  he  could  by  his  own  endeavours  to  meet 
the  appointed  conditions  involved  in  the  attainment  of  his 
desire.  If  the  petition  is  not  granted,  and  if  this  failure 
destroys  his  faith  in  God,  then  the  truth  may  be  that  he  has 
made  of  his  own  petition  an  idol  and  has  mistaken  faith  in 
that  for  faith  in  God. 

God's  way  of  dealing  with  the  natural  and  the  human 
world  is  realised  through  and  by  what  is  called  the  "  Reign  of 
Law."  This  is  an  essential  part  of  the  meaning  of  Providence. 
Whether  it  is  the  whole  of  it  is  a  question  that  will  be  better 
understood  when  we  know  what  is  meant  by  "  Law."  Mis- 
understanding or  confusion  on  this  point  is  disastrous  and 
unhappily  both  are  prevalent. 

What  do  we  mean  by  a  "  law  of  nature  "  as  science  uses 
the  term?  To  answer  the  question  we  may  appeal  to  any 
experimental  science.  In  chemistry,  for  example,  it  is  found 
that  certain  elements  will  combine  in  certain  definite  propor- 
tions to  produce  a  certain  definite  result.  The  same  quantities 
of  the  same  substances,  treated  in  the  same  way,  always  pro- 
duce the  same  result.  Generalising  this  example  we  get  the 
conception  of  a  law  of  nature.  We  have  found  a  law  of 
nature  whenever  we  have  found  things  which  act  in  the  same 
way  under  the  same  conditions.  We  must  distinguish  and 
set  aside  the  meaning  of  "  law  "  as  standing  for  those  great 
natural  probabilities,  or  moral  certainties  based  on  past  expe- 
rience, that  such  and  such  things  will  occur  in  the  future  as 
they  have  done  in  the  past ;  that  "  while  the  earth  remaineth, 
seed-time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and 
winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease."  Such  "  laws," 
or  uniformities,  are  only  the  starting-points  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation. The  laws  that  science  seeks  for  go  deeper  than 
these  superficial  uniformities.  The  real  laws  of  nature, 
though  they  never  tell  us  absolutely  that  anything  must  happen, 
do  tell  us  that  if  certain  things  are  done  then  certain  things 
will  follow.  The  real  laws  of  nature  are  laws  with  an  "  if  "; 
they  do  not  of  themselves  provide  the  occasions  of  their  own 
operation.  So  far  as  man  has  succeeded  in  understanding 
this  universe,  he  has  done  it  by  tracing  such  laws  which  form 
the  "  order  of  nature."     Science  proceeds  on  the  assumption 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  83 

or  faith  that  the  "  Reign  of  Law  "  pervades  the  knowable 
universe. 

A  Law  of  Nature,  in  the  only  strict  and  logical  scientific 
meaning  of  the  term  "  law,"  is  always  expressed  in  the  form 
of  a  supposition  or  a  conditional  statement:  if  certain  things 
happen  they  must  necessarily  produce  certain  other  things. 
Wherever  and  whenever  the  conditions  occur  then  the  effect 
must  follow.  The  law  only  "  comes  into  operation  "  when 
the  conditions  actually  occur  as  causes  in  the  series  of  events 
in  space  and  time.  It  is  conceivable  that  the  conditions  might 
so  occur  only  once  in  a  thousand  or  a  million  years;  then  the 
law  would  only  come  into  operation  once  in  all  that  time. 
The  event  might  be  such  as  had  never  been  heard  of  within  the 
range  of  man's  remembered  or  recorded  experience,  but  there 
would  be  no  breach  of  law. 

This  definition  of  law  would  be  widely  accepted  at  the 
present  time,  but  unfortunately  it  is  often  accepted  with  a 
limitation  which  destroys  a  great  part  of  its  significance.  It 
is  assumed  that  the  "  antecedents  "  —  the  conditions  required 
for  the  operation  of  the  law  and  implied  in  the  "  if  " — must 
consist  of  previous  events  in  space  and  time;  in  a  word,  that 
they  must  be  material  conditions  capable  of  being  reduced  to 
mechanical  terms.  It  may  be  practically  convenient  for 
science,  or  some  department  of  science,  to  adopt  this  assump- 
tion as  a  working  hypothesis,  but  if  presented  as  the  final 
truth  it  appears  to  be  a  wholly  arbitrary  dogma. 

When  this  illegitimate  assumption  is  made  it  has  a  further 
issue.  It  leads  to  the  equally  groundless  dogma  that  the 
material  order  is  a  closed  circle  in  whose  necessary  sequences 
spirit  cannot  intervene.  If  so,  then  any  material  movement, 
whether  of  molecule  of  a  brain  or  of  orbit  of  a  planet,  can 
only  be  produced  by  other  antecedent  or  concurrent  material 
movements.  This  result  is  reached  by  extending  the  concep- 
tion of  the  Conservation  of  Energy  beyond  its  proper  sphere, 
that  of  a  physical  postulate,  and  transforming  it  into  a  meta- 
physical principle.  It  is  remarkable  that  such  men  as  Fred- 
erick William  Robertson  and  James  Martineau  were  prepared 
to  accept  this  so  far  as  to  exclude  prayer  from  the  physical 
order  while  earnestly  contending  for  its  place  and  efficacv  in 
the  spiritual  realm,  and  that  William  Knight  of  Dundee, 
afterwards  Professor  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrews, 
published  an  able  and  elaborate  argument  to  the  same  effect 
during  the  course  of  the  controversy  aroused  by  the  late  Pro- 


84  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

fessor  Tyndall,'*  The  conclusion  can  result  only  from  some 
illegitimate  assumption  as  to  the  meaning  of  natural  law.  The 
Reign  of  Law  holds  equally  in  the  worlds  of  matter  and  of 
mind.  As  it  has  been  concisely  put:  "  If  the  Reign  of  Law 
is  really  incompatible  with  the  agency  of  volition,  human  and 
Divine,  then  the  mind  is  as  inaccessible  to  that  agency  as 
material  things."  If  a  Divine  response  to  prayer  for  some 
material  benefit  is  to  be  described  as  "  intervention  in  the 
sequence  of  material  phenomena,"  and  denied  as  being  a  "  vio- 
lation of  law,"  then  a  Divine  response  to  prayer  for  a  spiritual 
benefit  is  equally  an  intervention  in  the  order  of  spiritual 
phenomena  and  equally  a  violation  of  law. 

In  reality  there  is  no  "  violation  of  law  "  in  either  case. 
There  is  the  emergence  of  a  new  condition  modifying,  perhaps 
transforming,  the  conditions  which  are  actually  at  work  and 
tending  to  produce  a  certain  result.  The  principle  of  the 
"  law  with  an  if  "  is  not  violated  but  only  more  profoundly 
illustrated. 

It  is  clear  from  experience  that,  however  little  we  may 
know  of  the  Divine  plan  of  the  world  in  its  completeness, 
God  does  work  through  man;  that  is,  through  the  realisation 
of  desires  and  purposes  which  human  agents  have  consciously 
made  their  own.  Experience  bears  witness  to  a  continual 
Divine  uplifting  and  inspiration  of  humanity.  God  inspires 
men  with  purposes  of  which  they  are  conscious  and  with  the 
desire  and  will  to  realise  them.  In  this  union  of  the  human 
and  the  Divine  we  find  the  sources  of  all  our  nobler  and  finer 
actions  and  achievements.  In  the  light  of  this  great  thought 
of  ever  new  Divine  inspiration,  we  might  seek  a  justification  of 
petitionary  prayer;  but  before  directly  meeting  the  question 
thus,  we  may  ask,  Is  even  this  an  exhaustive  account  of  all  that 
we  can  mean  by.  Providence  ?  Must  we  assume  that  the  devel- 
opment and  betterment  of  human  qualities,  physical,  intellec- 
tual, moral,  spiritual,  is  the  special  and  chosen  sphere  of  Divine 
action,  and  that  the  results  of  all  human  actions  are  worked 
out  according  to  those  unchanging  laws  which  (on  this  assump- 
tion) are  the  only  self-expression  of  God  beyond  His  influence 
in  and  through  humanity?  Are  any  hints  to  be  found  in 
history  and  experience,  showing  that  the  Divine  plan  is  worked 
out  not  only  by  purposes  which  humanity  consciously  realises, 
co-operating  with  and  bringing  into  action  the  great  laws  of  all 
life,  but  that  there  is  also  an  unspent  store  of  effective  Divine 

4  Contemporary  Review,  January  1873. 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  85 

action,  actually  operative  in  the  world  beyond  all  that  is 
effected  through  human  desires  and  achievements,  hopes  and 
ideals  ? 

Experience  and  history  teach  that  human  endeavours  are 
made  to  bring  forth  results  more  far-reaching  and  important 
than  the  agents  themselves  could  even  have  imagined;  and  dif- 
ferent actions  of  different  people  are  made  to  work  together 
to  bring  about  results  which  the  agents  never  foresaw  — • 
results  whose  importance  the  agents  would  not  have  under- 
stood if  they  had  foreseen  them,  and  which  are  often  entirely 
contrary  to  the  deliberate  designs  of  these  agents  themselves. 
A  familiar  analogy  may  be  found  in  natural  history  in  the 
way  in  which  the  bees,  all  intent  on  their  own  concerns  in 
gathering  food,  and  wholly  unconscious  of  any  further  pur- 
pose in  their  actions,  do  actually,  by  carrying  pollen  from 
flower  to  flower,  effect  fertilisation,  and  so  maintain  whole 
species  of  vegetable  life  in  existence. 

No  more  impressive  illustration  can  be  found  than  is  af- 
forded by  the  ever-renewed  spectacle  of  disappointed  hopes  and 
designs,  well-meaning  and  high-motived,  which  have  ended 
only  in  failure.  In  this  aspect  of  it  the  lesson  is  written 
for  us  large  and  plain  in  the  life  of  the  discoverer  of  the 
Western  Continent.  Columbus,  whose  faith  was  sublime  as 
compared  with  the  general  mind  of  his  age,  and  whom  most 
men  believed  at  first  to  be  insane,  sailing  w-est  to  discover  a 
route  to  the  fabled  wealth  of  China  and  the  Indies,  stumbling 
upon  a  whole  new  world,  yet  knowing  it  not,  persistently 
clinging  to  the  false  idea  that  he  was  almost  at  the  gates  of 
the  great  Khan's  capital,  and  dying  at  length  broken-hearted 
because  so  little,  as  he  thought,  had  resulted  from  his  stupen- 
dous dream  —  this  man  is  not  only  a  good  but  a  typical  illus- 
tration of  how  men  in  failing  may  become  unconscious  instru- 
ments of  ends  greater  than  all  their  dreams.  What  was 
there,  in  his  trumpery  vision  of  gold  and  gems  to  be  had  in 
the  East  almost  for  the  asking,  to  be  compared  with  the  life 
that  now  peoples  that  Western  world  upon  which  he  stumbled 
unawares,  and  the  permanent  contributions  which  that  life 
has  made  to  the  welfare  of  mankind? 

The  world  is  not  yet  made :  it  is  in  the  making.  We  have 
illustrated  this  by  showing  that  the  acts  of  men  —  good,  bad, 
or  indifferent  —  are  made  to  work  out  into  results  which  may 
not  only  be  quite  different  from  the  intentions  of  the  agents 
but  even  be  beyond  their  power  to  conceive.     Good  men  by 


86  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

their  good  deeds  have  "  builded  better  than  they  knew."  The 
bad  deeds  of  bad  men  are  made  to  contribute  to  ends  unper- 
ceived  by  the  agents  and  often  quite  opposed  to  their  purpose. 
The  tragedies  and  heroic  sufferings  of  human  Hfe,  and  its 
failures  and  disappointments,  are  made  to  contribute  to  the 
good  of  the  world.  As  in  the  case  of  Columbus,  a  man  may 
put  his  heart  and  soul  into  working  for  something  that  seems 
to  him  good,  and  fail;  yet  in  trying  and  failing,  he  may  con- 
tribute to  a  greater  good  than  he  knew,  far  greater  than  his 
dream  or  desire. 

May  we  go  even  further  than  this?  May  we  say  not  only 
that  the  whole  scheme  of  the  world  is  contributory  to  the 
highest  needs  of  mankind  but  that  the  Divine  action  provides 
also  for  the  special  personal  needs  of  particular  human  beings? 
There  is  a  well-known  story  of  some  Scottish  Covenanters 
hiding  from  dragoons  in  a  cave.  Soon  after  they  had  taken 
shelter  there,  up  came  their  pursuers ;  but  seeing  a  spider's  web 
at  the  entrance  to  the  cave,  they  concluded  that  no  one  had 
entered  it  recently,  and  passed  on.  This  has  sometimes  been 
quoted  as  an  example  of  the  immediate  interposition  of  God. 
Two  kinds  of  objections  are  made  against  such  an  interpreta- 
tion of  this  and  similar  occurrences;  and  our  intellectual  and 
practical  attitude,  in  reference  to  the  problem  of  prayer,  is  pro- 
foundly affected  by  our  view  of  these  objections. 

It  is  said  that  if  robbers  had  been  hiding  in  the  cave,  the 
spider  would  have  woven  its  web  all  the  same.  It  is  said  that 
other  good  men  have  been  hunted  without  being  saved.  Why 
should  one  be  providentially  preserved  and  another  allowed 
to  perish?  There  is  only  one  general  reply.  From  the  point 
of  view  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  purposes  and  reasons  are  not 
what  they  are  to  us.  There  may  be  reasons  for  the  preser- 
vation of  one  and  the  death  of  the  other  which  are  wholly 
beyond  our  view.  In  the  particular  case  before  us,  we  simply 
cannot  see  the  value  of  the  Covenanters'  lives  from  the  Divine 
point  of  view.  We  say,  "  there  may  be  reasons."  This 
is  only  a  "  may  be,"  but  it  is  at  least  enough  to  counter- 
balance the  objection  and  turn  that  also  into  a  mere  "  may 
be." 

It  is  said,  again,  that  the  Infinite  cannot  or  will  not  be  con- 
cerned specially  with  the  needs  peculiar  to  any  particular  being. 
This  has  a  more  serious  meaning  than  the  well-worn  appeal  to 
the  insignificance  of  the  individual  as  compared  with  the  actual 
bulk  of  the  material  universe,     Jf  this  appeal  has  any  force  at 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  87 

all,  it  has  force  to  destroy  not  only  petitionary  prayer  but  any 
conceivable  idea  of  the  material  order  of  the  world  as  sub- 
ordinate to  a  spiritual  purpose,  or  of  "  matter  "  as  a  mani- 
festation and  an  instrument  of  spirit.  Compared  with  the 
extent  of  the  physical  universe  the  whole  history  of  man  is 
only  a  transient  episode  on  an  utterly  insignificant  planet.  In 
this  fonn  of  it,  the  objection  rests  on  a  gross  confusion  be- 
tween material  bulk  and  spiritual  value.  It  assumes  a  more 
serious  form,  however,  when  it  is  based  on  a  principle  which 
has  behind  it  the  authority  of  some  recent  versions  of  philo- 
sophical Idealism.  Idealism  has  often  given  powerful  support 
to  the  great  thought  of  God  as  the  Life  on  which  all  other  lives 
depend,  the  Infinite  Life  which  is  the  perfect  realisation  of 
all  that  is  best  in  finite  lives.  But  this  has  been  held  so  as  to 
compel  the  conclusion  that  the  being  of  God  makes  no  dif- 
ference to  any  particular  being  in  the  world  save  to  guarantee 
its  connection  with  all  other  beings  in  an  all-inclusive  "  sys- 
tem "  or  "  unity."  If  this  were  true,  we  might  have  admiring 
and  adoring  sentiments,  but  only  about  life  as  a  whole,  not 
about  any  particular  portion  of  it  apart  from  the  rest.  The  late 
William  James  characterised  this  view  with  his  usual  direct- 
ness and  force:  "We  owe  it  (we  are  told)  to  God  that  we 
have  a  world  of  fact  at  all.  A  world  of  fact!  —  that  exactly 
is  the  trouble.  An  entire  world  is  the  smallest  unit  with  which 
such  a  God  can  work,  whereas  to  our  finite  minds  work  for 
the  better  ought  to  be  done  within  this  world,  setting  in  at 
single  points.  Our  difficulties  and  our  ideals  are  all  piece- 
meal affairs;  but  if  God  can  do  no  piecework  for  us,  all  the 
interests  which  our  poor  souls  compass  raise  their  heads  too 
late."  If  this  is  the  outcome  of  Idealism,  then  philosophy  has 
pushed  religion  into  a  blind  alley,  and  left  it  with  a  so-called 
God  Who  raises  no  particular  weight.  Who  helps  us  with  no 
private  burden,  and  Who  is  on  the  side  of  our  enemies  as 
much  as  He  is  on  our  own. 

It  must  be  distinctly  understood  that  these  results  follow 
from  a  principle  which  is  not  a  matter  of  demonstration  but 
of  metaphysical  assumption ;  or  rather,  they  follow  from  this 
principle  only  when  it  is  misapplied  so  as  to  prejudge  a 
question  which  can  be  settled  by  experience  alone :  whether 
or  in  what  wav  man's  endeavours  to  realise  his  ideal  life  are 
furthered  in  detail  by  communion  with  the  animating  Spirit  of 
the  whole?  A  sound  Idealism  must  be  prepared  to  admit  the 
belief  declared  with  no  uncertain  voice  in  the  lines: — 


88  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Speak  to  Him  thou  for  He  hears,  and  Spirit  with  Spirit  can  meet  — 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands  and  feet. 

God  is  not  a  philosophy,  a  theory,  a  law  comprehending  and 
harmonising  life,  but  a  Person.  Why  do  we  use  this  word? 
Because  if  we  abandon  it  we  renounce  with  it  something  that 
ought  not  to  be  renounced.  We  use  it,  not  because  we  would 
ascribe  human  passions  or  anything  merely  human  to  God 
but  because  we  cannot  admit  that  God  is  anything  less  than 
a  Living  God,  Who  comes  to  meet  the  soul's  desire  to  find 
Him.  God  loves  us,  God  claims  us,  God  is  "  our  Father  " — 
what  do  these  words  mean  but  this,  that  the  Life  of  God  comes 
to  meet  ours  with  the  power  of  all  that  Being  can  feel  towards 
dependent  being,  with  intent  to  communicate  and  repeat  Him- 
self, to  fulfil  imperfection  in  perfection,  to  turn  evil  to  good? 

H  then  there  is  in  God  something  corresponding  to  what, 
in  man,  is  called  loving-kindness,  and  if  that  something  is  not 
impotent  or  ineffective  in  this  world  of  law,  then  it  is  the 
outcome  of  His  goodness  that  He  should  act  in  response  to 
our  desire;  and  the  Christian  argument  from  the  goodness  of 
man  to  that  of  God  goes  to  the  root  of  the  problem.  It  is  in 
the  nature  of  human  goodness  not  to  deny  assent  to  just  re- 
quests without  just  cause. 

Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  the  apparent  insignificance  of 
the  details  of  life  and  of  the  desires  to  which  they  give  rise  is 
a  bar  to  God's  hearing  them  when  transformed  into  prayers. 
This  implies  an  extremely  superficial  view  of  the  Divine 
Nature  even  as  Intelligence  —  a  view  which  is  incompatible 
with  any  adequate  conception  even  of  the  human  ideal  of 
knowledge.  Increase  of  knowledge  means  increase  in  the 
comprehensiveness  of  the  range  of  fact  which  is  known  and  in 
the  exactness  of  the  knowledge  of  every  particular  embraced 
in  it.  And  that  which  is  clearly  indicated,  though  only  real- 
ised "  here  a  little  and  there  a  little  "  in  human  knowledge,  is 
surely  carried  to  its  completion  in  the  perfect  Knowledge 
which  is  one  with  perfect  Wisdom  and  Love.  If  there  is  any 
presumption  or  irreverence  in  the  matter,  it  lies  not  in  offering 
to  God  a  personal  desire.  It  lies  in  assuming  that  anything 
entering  into  human  experience  is  "  too  trivial "  for  His 
notice. 

But  if  the  goodness  of  God  is,  as  it  must  be,  unlimited  and 
unconditioned,  how  can  imperfect  and  ignorant  creatures,  such 
as  we  are,  expect  God's  response  ever  to  take  the  fonn  of  a 
change  in  the  action  of  His  will?     The  confusion  of  thought 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  89 

involved  in  this  natural  and  apparently  most  relevant  question 
was  clearly  pointed  out  by  St.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

The  providential  order  of  the  world,  he  observes,  is  so 
far  from  excluding  secondary  causes  that  it  is  actually  realised 
by  their  means.  These  causes  fall  into  various  grades  of  im- 
portance and  worth.  They  are  not  limited  to  natural  or  physi- 
cal agencies.  Among  other  causes  human  actions  hold  a  very 
important  place.  We  act,  not  because  any  one  supposes  that 
by  doing  so  we  can  change  the  Divine  ordinance  but  because 
we  act  in  order  to  attain  our  ends.  In  so  far  as  these  ends 
are  harmonious  with  the  Divine  plan  they  are  good  in  the 
full  meaning  of  the  word.  In  this  respect  petitionary  prayer 
is  on  the  same  level  with  human  actions  in  general.  We  do  not 
pray  in  order  to  change  God's  ordinance  but  in  order  to  achieve 
those  things  which  in  God's  ordinance  are  possible  to  be 
achieved  by  petitionary  prayer.  "  Therefore  to  say  that  we 
should  not  pray  to  receive  anything  from  God  because  the 
order  of  His  providence  is  unchangeable  is  like  saying  that 
we  should  not  walk  to  get  to  a  place,  nor  eat  to  support  life." 
There  is  no  reason  for  excluding  petitionary  prayers  from  the 
general  system  of  things;  and,  if  so,  then  effects  follow  from 
them  bv  divine  appointment  as  from  other  causes.  St. 
Thomas  therefore  concludes  that,  "  if  the  immutability  of  the 
Divine  plan  does  not  withdraw  the  effects  of  other  causes, 
neither  does  it  take  away  the  efficacy  of  prayer."  ^ 

None  the  less  it  may  be  said,  Does  not  petitionary  prayer 
imply  distrust  of  God?  Is  it  consistent  with  the  perfect  wis- 
dom and  perfect  love  of  God  that  He  should  fail  to  confer 
some  particular  good  or  avert  some  particular  evil  unless  He 
is  asked  to  do  so?  If  prayer  were  only  "asking,"  this 
objection  would  be  very  serious  indeed.  But  we  have  from 
the  outset  insisted  on  the  fact  that  genuine  prayer  is  much  more 
than  "  asking."  It  is  the  expression  of  a  spiritual  activity  — 
a  man's  identification  of  himself  with  a  desire,  and  an  offering 
of  the  desire  to  God  in  the  consciousness  (necessarily  an  im- 
perfect consciousness)  of  what  God  is.  It  implies  therefore 
a  change  in  man,  a  change  which  fits  him  to  receive  benefits 
which  otherwise  would  not  be  granted  to  him.  A  personal 
good  is  relative  to  the  person  on  whom  it  is  to  be  conferred. 
What  is  good  for  him  in  one  condition  of  mind  and  will,  as 
when  the  soul  is  turned  to  God  in  prayer,  may  not  be  good  for 
him  in  another  condition,  as  when  the  soul  is  turned  away 

5  Contra  Gentiles,  Rickaby's  abridged  translation,  pp.  257-9. 


90  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

from  God.  It  is  true  that  his  desires  are  a  very  imperfect 
indication  of  what  his  true  good  really  is  as  God  sees  it;  but 
if  God  is  love  as  well  as  law  the  offering  of  those  imperfect 
desires  to  Him  gives  His  infinite  love  many  more  and  wider 
ways  of  self-expression  than  if  they  were  not  so  offered. 

IV.  Unfulfilled  Petitions 

From  the  point  of  view  of  God's  Providence  the  failure  of 
a  petitionary  prayer  is  on  the  same  level  with  the  failure  of 
any  other  kind  of  human  endeavour;  and  we  have  shown  that 
history  and  experience  do  throw  some  light  on  these  failures. 

God  fulfils  the  desires  of  His  rational  creatures  in  so  far 
as  these  desires  are  good  or  contain  in  themselves  some  ele- 
ment of  good;  but  sometimes  it  happens  that  what  is  asked  for 
is  only  an  apparent  good  which  may  be  simply  evil.  Prayers 
for  physical  things,  even  for  deliverance  from  bodily  danger, 
may  conflict  with  spiritual  interests ;  or  personal  desires  may 
be  inconsistent  with  the  welfare  of  others  in  ways  which  go 
deeper  than  our  vision  can  go.  "  It  sometimes  happens,"  says 
Aquinas  again,  "  that  for  very  friendship  one  denies  his 
friend's  petition,  knowing  it  to  be  hurtful  to  him,  or  the  con- 
trary to  be  better  for  him ;  as  a  physician  may  refuse  what  his 
patient  asks  for.  No  wonder  then  if  God,  Who  fulfils  the 
desire  offered  to  Him  by  His  rational  creature  for  the  love 
He  bears  him,  fails  sometimes  to  fulfil  the  petition  of  those 
whom  He  singularly  loves  that  He  may  fulfil  it  otherwise  with 
some  greater  good." 

The  agony  of  Gethsemane  found  its  solution  in  the  strength 
that  said  "  Thy  will  be  done  "  with  a  fuller  consciousness  of 
the  meaning  of  those  words  than  any  other  being  ever  attained 
to  on  earth.  And  the  refusal  of  the  personal  petition  was 
the  salvation  of  the  world. 

A  voice  upon  the  midnight  air 
Where  Kedron's  moonlit  waters  stray, 

Weeps  forth  in  agony  of  prayer 
"  O  Father,  take  this  cup  away." 

Ah !  thou  who  sorrowest  unto  death, 

We  conquer  in  thy  mortal  fray; 
And  earth,  for  all  her  children,  saith, 

"  O  God,  take  not  this  cup  away." 

The  difficult  problem  of  the  due  limits  of  prayer  naturally 
arises  here.     We  have  the  right  to  pray,  but  the   familiar 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  91 

antithesis  of  "  liberty,  no  license  "  holds  good  of  all  "  rights." 
A  thoughtful  writer  has  made  an  instructive  comparison  be- 
tween the  freedom  to  pray  and  freedom  of  action  and  speech 
under  constitutional  government :  "  In  a  world  which  is  gov- 
erned constitutionally  —  and  this  after  all  is  what  is  really 
meant  when  we  speak  of  our  world  as  the  realm  of  Law  — 
freedom  must  be  used  constitutionally.  Prayer  stands  on 
the  same  footing  w'ith  deeds  in  this  respect."  In  the  social 
conmiunity  there  are  limitations  of  liberty  imposed  by  rea- 
son, public  spirit,  and  regard  for  the  common  good ;  so  in  our 
intercourse  with  God  there  are  limitations  to  petitionary 
prayer  implied  in  the  primary  conditions  laid  down  by  our  Lord 
in  the  words.  "  Thy  Kingdom  come,  Thy  Will  be  done,"  and  in 
His  way,  not  in  ours. 

We  have  rejected  the  limitation  of  prayer  to  the  spiritual 
and  its  exclusion  from  the  physical  or  material  realm.  In  any 
case  it  must  be  noticed  that  the  antithesis  of  the  spiritual  and 
the  material  is  not  fundamental  for  our  question,  because  the 
indirect  effects  of  mental  or  spiritual  energies  may  lead  to 
material  results.  Professor  Knight,  in  the  course  of  his  con- 
tribution to  the  controversy  of  1872-73  (already  alluded  to), 
wrote  as  follows:  "When  we  pray  for  a  friend's  life  that 
seems  endangered,  such  prayer  can  never  be  an  influential  cause 
in  arresting  the  physical  progress  of  disease  by  an  iota.  But  it 
may  bring  a  fresh  suggestion  to  the  mind  of  a  physician  or 
other  attendant  to  adopt  a  remedy  w^hich  by  natural  means 
'  turns  the  tide  '  of  ebbing  life,  and  determines  the  recovery 
of  the  patient.  .  .  .  The  latent  power  that  lies  within  the  free 
causality  of  man  may  be  stimulated  and  put  in  motion  from  a 
point  beyond  the  chain  of  physical  sequence;  and  crises  in- 
numerable may  be  averted  by  human  prayer." 

The  real  antithesis  is  between  those  effects  in  which  human 
agency  plays  some  part,  large  or  small,  and  those  effects,  like 
the  general  order  of  cosmic  phenomena,  seem  placed  absolutely 
beyond  human  power.  Has  prayer  any  place  in  reference  to 
facts  where  all  intervention  of  man  is  excluded?  The  range 
of  events  into  which  human  agency  does  actually  enter  is 
larger  than  appears  at  first  sight.  For  example.  Sir  G.  G. 
Stokes,  in  a  striking  passage  in  his  Gifford  Lectures,  points  out 
the  variety  and  complexity  of  conditions  affecting  changes  in 
the  weather,  and  draws  the  following  conclusion:  "It  is  per- 
fectly conceivable  that  a  child,  by  lighting  a  bonfire,  might  pro- 
duce an  ascending  current  of  air  which  in  particular  cases 


92  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

might  suffice  to  initiate  a  movement  which  went  on  accumu- 
lating until  it  caused  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere  to  be 
widely  different  from  what  it  would  have  been  otherwise."  ^ 

Nevertheless,  no  practical  use  can  be  made  of  such  a  pos- 
sibility in  determining  the  limits  of  prayer.  A  prayer  for  rain 
is  offered  precisely  at  the  time  when  human  agency  fails  and 
because  it  fails.  The  event  practically  belongs  to  the  order 
of  nature  which  is  determined  by  the  Divine  Will  (assuming 
that  superhuman  intermediate  agencies  are  excluded).  Such 
a  prayer  does  not  differ  in  principle  from  a  petition  to  the 
effect  that  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  announced  on  astronomical 
grounds  for  a  stated  night,  shall  take  place  on  some  other 
night.  Such  petitions  surely  lie  beyond  the  limits  of  rever- 
ence, if  not  indeed  of  sanity  also.  Prayer  is  legitimate  only 
within  the  range  of  events  affected  by  the  possibilities  of 
human  action. 

In  all  things  our  motto  must  therefore  be  not  laborare  est 
or  arc  but  ora  et  labor  a.  "  We  made  our  prayers  unto  our 
God,  and  set  a  watch  against  them  day  and  night."  Take  a 
typical  case.  A  man  finds  himself  in  a  post  of  trust  in  which 
he  is  constantly  tempted  to  fraud  and  has  every  opportunity  of 
doing  so  with  impunity.  Shall  he  pray  for  God's  help  to  over- 
come the  temptation?  Will  it  do  him  any  good?  No  mere 
asking  will  suffice,  no  mere  sense  of  a  wish  or  want.  To  be 
efficacious  the  prayer  must  embrace  an  actual  endeavour  to 
identify  himself  with  the  higher  law  written  in  the  mind,  thus 
rousing  the  dormant  faculty  of  resistance  and  the  desire  for 
personal  righteousness.  In  the  same  way  the  desire  for  social 
righteousness  is  produced  by  striving  to  create  larger  sym- 
pathies, by  incorporation  of  ourselves  into  wider  interests,  by 
identification  of  our  lives  with  the  lives  of  others.  Such  tend- 
encies as  these  are  marked  characteristics  of  the  higher  social 
consciousness  of  our  age  and  they  may  be  made  subjects  of 
prayer;  but  the  prayer  must  embrace  actual  endeavour  in  the 
ways  of  practical  service. 

Such  desires  become  prayers  when  the  endeavour  to  realise 
them  is  made  in  the  consciousness  of  the  presence  of  God, 
Whose  Goodness  is  the  source  of  the  inner  ideal  of  personal 
and  social  righteousness  and  the  impulse  to  fulfil  it,  Whose  re- 
sponsive Love  freely  bestows  the  strength  and  inspiration 
needed.     Held  in  this  consciousness  of  God,  such  desires  are 

G  Gifford  Lectures,  p.  217;  quoted  in  Cambridge  Theological  Essays,  pp.   291-92,  in 
which  apologetic  use  is  made  of  the  passage. 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  93 

prayers ;  but  the  prayer  must  include  active  endeavour  and 
personal  effort.  It  has  lon^^  been  known  that  the  universe  is 
so  constituted  that  results  can  only  be  achieved  by  fulfilling  the 
appointed  conditions;  and  it  is  now  becoming  increasingly  clear 
that  there  is  no  limit  to  the  resources  —  physical,  mental, 
moral,  spiritual  —  available  for  us  as  we  learn  to  fulfil  the 
conditions  by  which  alone  their  virtue  is  obtained.  This  is 
the  sphere  of  those  endeavours  which  become  prayer  when 
they  are  done  in  the  consciousness  of  God,  and  their  meaning 
and  purpose  offered  as  petition  to  the  Perfect  Wisdom  that 
knows  what  is  best,  the  Perfect  Love  that  wills  what  is  best, 
the  Perfect  Justice  that  gives  to  every  being  its  due  in  an 
infinite  order  of  inviolable  law.  And  then  our  endeavours 
are  purified  and  strengthened :  purified  from  every  self-cen- 
tred, self-satisfied,  self-sufficient  emotion;  strengthened  with 
the  courage  and  confidence  that  comes  of  conscious  resting  upon 
God. 

Experience  shows  that  such  prayers  are  not  vain,  even 
though  the  response  may  not  include  literal  fulfilment  of 
petition.  They  are  not  vain,  any  more  than  all  human  action 
is  vain  because  disappointment  and  failure  are  facts  of  expe- 
rience. The  petition  may  be  unfulfilled,  but  the  response  does 
not  fail.  Let  a  man  seek  more  of  inner  life  and  more  life  is 
given  to  him.  Let  a  brave  man  bravely  seek  more  courage 
and  more  courage  comes  to  him.  Let  a  merciful  man  show 
his  mercy  and  he  will  himself  become  more  merciful  in  show- 
ing it.  Let  a  child  of  God  liz'e  as  a  child  of  God  and  he  will 
know  better  than  he  knew  before  what  that  God  is  in  Whose 
image  he  is  made.  To  form  an  ideal,  the  thought  of  some- 
thing that  ought  to  be,  and  to  work  for  its  realisation  in  fife, 
is  to  have  an  actual  or  possible  experience  of  God. 

A  statesman  prays  that  his  country  may  be  delivered  from 
the  tragedy  of  war.  He  offers  to  God  his  labour,  long,  per- 
sistent, faithful,  that  this  great  deliverance  may  be  secured. 
He  fails  to  control  the  tidal  w'aves  of  international  discord, 
which  at  length  burst  through  with  devastating  force.  Let  him 
now  labour  as  earnestly  and  pray  as  sincerely  for  insight  into 
historic  causes,  and  for  courage  and  faithfulness  to  principle, 
as  he  laboured  and  prayed  for  change  in  historic  events ;  and  the 
heaven  that  fled  from  the  earth  will  return  to  the  heart.  He 
finds  that  he  is  not  alone.  He  rests  upon  a  greater  Strength 
that  flows  into  him  and  uplifts  him  above  himself;  he  becomes 


94  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

possessed  of  a  power  which  is  more  than  the  power  of  his  single 
self.     The  very  strength  of  God  has  revealed  itself  within  him. 

A  father  and  mother,  in  agony,  pray  for  the  life  of  their  sick 
child.  The  supplication  is  a  cry  to  God  which  calls  into  exer- 
cise every  faculty  and  even  starts  new  faculties  into  life.  It 
summons  to  the  point  of  need  the  resources  of  knowledge, 
skill,  and  tenderness ;  but  it  is  unavailing.  Through  some 
deficiency  of  knowledge  or  skill  the  conditions  are  not  met. 
The  child  is  taken  from  their  arms.  As  the  suppliants  wrestle 
with  destiny,  as  they  press  closer  and  closer  to  the  necessity  that 
drives  ruthlessly  across  their  deepest  and  cherished  happiness, 
the  cry  for  a  life  becomes  a  cry  that  the  loss  of  life  may  not  be 
wholly  crushing  —  a  cry  for  patience,  courage,  trust.  A  voice 
is  heard  across  the  storm,  stronger  than  the  tumult  of  grief, 
saying,  "  It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid."  It  is  in  and  after  sorrow  of 
the  most  hopeless  sort  —  as  in  the  death  of  one  we  love  — 
that  God's  relation  to  us  is  felt  to  be  at  once  personal  and  yet 
fuller  and  richer  than  any  human  personal  relations  can  be. 

The  great  possibilities  of  human  endeavour  and  achievement, 
in  the  material  and  in  the  moral  world,  may  be  counted  one  of 
the  discoveries  of  our  age :  but  their  actualities  are  bounded  by 
the  concrete  conditions  of  existence.  The  limit  of  what  we  can 
do,  in  the  actual  problems  of  life,  is  reached  far  sooner  than  the 
limit  of  what  we  need ;  and  the  limit  of  what  we  need  is  reached 
far  sooner  than  the  limit  of  what  we  may  rightly  desire. 

We  know  what  this  means  in  the  testing-times  of  the  per- 
sonal life,  in  temptation,  weakness,  bitter  grief,  when  we  feel 
how  little  we  have  provided  even  such  human  things  as  resource 
O'f  thought  and  strength  of  character  to  lean  upon.  The  time 
comes  when  we  are  at  the  end  of  our  resources;  we  are  face 
to  face  with  a  situation  in  which  we  have  done  the  utmost  we 
can  do  —  perhaps  the  utmost  man  can  do ;  we  can  do  no  more, 
but  wait  for  the  inevitable  calamity  or  tragedy  which  we  now 
see  must  come.  It  is  said  that  when  the  hunted  hare  perceives 
that  in  spite  of  all  its  efforts  the  hounds  are  gaining  on  it  and 
it  can  do  no  more  for  itself  it  screams  aloud.  And  when  in 
human  experience  all  that  before  seemed  real  is  shaken  and  falls 
as  solid  walls  fall  in  an  earthquake,  then  the  elemental  outcries 
of  the  soul  are  heard  —  sometimes  as  no  higher  than  those  of 
the  terrified  beast  —  yet  ever  and  again  rising  to  meet  the  in- 
evitable tragedies  of  life,  not  in  the  blind  instinct  of  the  animal 
but  out  of  the  deep  sense  of  need  of  the  Living  God,  the  Soul 
of  Goodness  in  things  evil. 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  95 

In  the  remaining'  portion  of  this  Essay  we  shall  consider 
shortly  the  application  of  the  principles  already  arrived  at  to 
certain  special  problems  of  further  practical  importance. 
These  relate  to  the  special  possibilities  of  prayer  ( i )  for 
benefits  to  self, — "prayer  as  healing";  (2)  for  benefits  to 
others, — "  intercessory  prayer  ";  (3)  "  common  prayer," 

V.  Prayer  as  Healing 

We  have  emphasised  the  fact  that  the  reign  of  Law  implies 
the  dependence  of  results  on  conditions  which  may  be  controlled 
and  even  created  by  the  human  will. 

The  universe  is  so  constituted  that  if  we  learn  and  obey  its 
laws  we  receive  its  treasures.  Our  natural  scientific  knowledge 
suggests  that  there  are  resources  around  us,  which  if  we  could 
lay  hold  on  them  would  enable  us  to  achieve  what  is  at  present 
beyond  our  dreams.  Science  assumes  that  these  hidden  re- 
sources are  no  more  than  forms  of  physical  energy.  Our  in- 
terpretation implies,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  are  not  only 
physical  but  also  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual.  If  nature  says 
to  the  man  of  science,  "  Obey  me,  learn  of  me,  use  me,  have 
perfect  confidence  in  me,"  much  more  are  the  unrealised  treas- 
ures of  the  mental,  the  moral,  the  spiritual  world  offered  to  us 
on  like  terms.  There  are  resources  available  to  build  up  the 
character,  the  moral  health,  the  spiritual  happiness  of  all  who 
seek  their  co-operation  by  fulfilling  the  conditions  on  which 
alone  their  virtue  is  obtained. 

Such  is  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  fact  that  the  reign 
of  Law  pervades  all  existence.  Prayer  for  spiritual  benefits 
for  ourselves  is  a  condition  for  the  attainment  of  the  end  de- 
sired, for  it  is  at  least  the  opening  of  the  heart,  and  that  is 
the  natural  method  by  which  the  gift  may  be  received.  It  is 
indeed  impossible  to  deny  that  these  petitions,  when  they  are 
genuine  prayers,  have  an  inner  effect.  We  have  already  com- 
mented on  the  significance  of  the  maxim  ora  et  labora.  The 
utmost  that  can  be  said  on  the  negative  side  is  that  these  effects 
are  onlv  the  mind's  reaction  on  itself.  Prayer  as  a  mental  con- 
dition is  followed  by  a  certain  mental  reaction.  It  "  answers 
itself."  This  is  now  often  called  "self-suggestion";  but  the 
name,  though  useful,  explains  nothing.  Room  must  be  left  for 
the  relis^ious  interpretation  of  the  fact  —  which  is,  that  God 
invariably  answers  such  prayers  in  a  certain  way. 

If  the  process  were  believed  to  be  wholly  subjective,  then  it 


96  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

would  cease  to  be  prayer.  The  reference  to  the  Divine  Object 
of  prayer  would  disappear  and  the  process  would  become  one 
of  so  directing  our  thoughts  as  to  secure  a  certain  subjective 
result  which  we  desire  to  obtain.  This  opens  the  wide  and 
very  practical  question  of  mind-cure  or  mental  healing  in  all  its 
forms;  for  the  effect  of  the  direction  of  our  thoughts  is  known 
to  produce  under  certain  conditions  bodily  as  well  as  mental 
results.  But  no  such  mental  endeavour,  we  repeat,  is  prayer 
unless  it  takes  the  form  of  a  desire  offered  to  God  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  what  God  is;  and  this  means  the  re-inforcement 
of  the  mental  endeavour  by  the  strongest  force  that  can  enter 
into  human  experience.'^ 

The  truth  scenes  to  be,  that,  instead  of  reducing  prayer  to  a 
process  of  subjective  self-suggestion  which  affects  our  own 
spirit  merely,  we  must  see  in  prayer  a  development  and  intensi- 
fication of  a  normal  but  unexplained  power  which  pervades  our 
day-to-day  mental  life,  whether  that  power  be  called  "  self- 
suggestion  "  or  any  other  name. 

Even  the  self-suggestion  which  is  not  a  conscious  appeal  to 
any  higher  Power,  and  which  is  conscious  only  of  the  en- 
deavour to  call  up  unused  personal  resources,  must  surely  de- 
rive its  ultimate  efficacy  from  an  increased  inflow  from  the 
Infinite  Energy,  which  the  mind's  powerful  effort  of  attention 
does  in  some  way  induce.  The  reasonable  supposition  is  that 
while  our  life  is  continually  dependent  on  the  Divine  Life  of 
the  universe,  the  inflow  from  that  Life  varies  in  abundance 
and  power  according  to  variations  in  the  attitude  of  our  own 
minds. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  lines  of  anthropological  study 
reveals  the  fact  that  in  every  age  of  human  history  and  in 
every  stage  of  civilisation  it  has  been  believed  that  the  cure  of 
all  kinds  of  human  ills  could  be  effected  by  means  which  are 
found  on  examination  to  involve  the  mental  co-operation  of^ 
the  sufferer,  although  in  the  more  primitive  societies  the  mental 
factor  was  altogether  implicit  and  the  means  employed  were  of 
the  nature  of  magic.  Hence  the  familiar  story  of  charms,  in- 
cantations, and  other  forms  of  word-magic,  to  which  an  occult 
power  was  attributed;  of  material  objects  of  every  shape  or 
kind  worn  on  the  body  or  applied  to  it,  sometimes  inscribed  with 
a  sign  or  formula  of  supposedly  magical  efficacy;  of  rites  and 
ceremonies,  priestly  or  magical,  believed  to  influence  mind  and 
body  for  good;  of  sacred  relics  and  sacred  places, —  trees, 

7  .See  this  illustrated  by  James,   Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.   466. 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  97 

springs,  wells.  It  is  well  known  that  belief  in  such  methods  of 
healing  has  remarkable  endurance  and  vitality.  It  is  a  story 
partly  of  deliberate  deception,  partly  of  unconscious  self- 
deception,  but  it  is  also  a  story  of  actual  achievement;  influ- 
ences have  been  exerted  even  on  the  bodily  constitution  of  men 
by  such  means. 

The  implicit  mental  factor  is  the  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  the 
means  employed.  I'ailing  the  belief,  no  such  result  is  pro- 
duced; given  the  belief,  different  means  might  produce  or 
rather  appear  to  produce  the  same  result.  The  process 
works  in  a  twofold  way.  On  one  side  it  turns  at- 
tention away  from  the  trouble,  turns  the  mind  from  the 
suffering  as  an  absorbing  object  of  interest  and  diverts  it  to 
something  else.  In  the  ages  of  primitive  superstition  those 
material  things  to  which  such  wonderful  efficacy  was  attached 
were  simply  means  of  diverting  attention,  while  belief  in  their 
power  gave  rise  to  the  thought  of  healing  and  cure  as  possible 
and  likely  to  be  real. 

In  every  case  there  must  be  a  turning  away  of  attention  from 
the  disease  and  the  trouble  and  from  absorption  in  the  thing 
feared,  and  the  concentration  of  attention  on  something  objec- 
tive. This  may  be  of  many  different  kinds  but  it  must  be  some- 
thing outside  the  suft"ering,  fearing  self.  It  may  be  just  the 
thought  or  belief  that  deliverance  and  healing  are  real  possibili- 
ties and  coming  actualities.  Such  a  thought  held  firmly  in  the 
mind  does  produce  an  effect  which  is  more  than  merely  mental. 
From  this  point  of  view  we  may  say  that  the  historic  forms  of 
faith-healing  are  forms  of  self-suggestion. 

The  perception  of  this  fact  has  led  to  the  rise,  in  recent  years, 
of  a  number  of  systems  or  schools  of  healing,  based  on  the 
belief  that  mental  treatment  is  the  sole  means  or  at  least  the 
all-important  means  of  cure.  The  best  known  of  these  schools 
provides  an  education  in  a  certain  philosophy  of  life  which  is 
made  not  a  mere  speculation  but  a  principle  to  be  lived 
by  and  acted  upon.  That  principle  affirms  the  unreality 
of  matter  and  therefore  of  bodily  evil  and  all  that  it  implies. 
The  place  of  this  doctrine  in  the  history  of  philosophy  is  well 
known.  Carried  to  an  extravagant  length, —  expressed  as  we 
would  expect  it  to  be  by  an  enthusiastic,  energetic,  and  im- 
perfectly educated  mind,  it  l>ecomes  the  central  doctrine  of  the 
foundress  of  "  Christian  Science."  As  it  appears  in  her  writ- 
ings, it  is  an  exaggerated  and  crude  theory  that  "  All  is  Mind." 

When  we  look  into  its  practical  working  we  find  that  there  is 


98  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

more  than  one  side  to  the  picture.  Valuable  lives  have  bfeen 
sacriticed  to  the  fanaticism  of  ignorant  or  incompetent  "  heal- 
ers." Nevertheless,  all  observers  who  know  the  facts  are 
obliged  to  admit  that  not  only  in  the  effects  of  bodily  disease 
but  in  mental  troubles  the  application  of  this  method  has 
brought  relief  to  hundreds  of  souls.  It  has  been  able  to  re- 
lieve men  of  vicious  habits  to  which  they  were  slaves.  It  has 
relieved  them  of  besieging,  morbid  ideas  which  were  likely  to 
drive  them  insane.  It  has  brought  back  happiness  and  hope 
into  lives  in  which  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  but  gloom  and 
despair. 

But  all  this  does  not  settle  the  question  of  the  truth  of  the 
doctrine.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be  cured  or  relieved  of 
trouble  by  a  visit  to  a  famous  shrine  to  the  Virgin  Mary  in  a 
little  village  near  the  Pyrenees.  It  is  also  possible  for  a  man 
to  be  healed  by  studying  and  assimilating  the  doctrine  of  Mrs. 
Eddy;  but,  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  the  reahty  of  the 
effect  produced  cannot  prevent  us  from,  inquiring  most  crit- 
ically into  the  nature  and  value  of  the  means  employed. 

What  is  the  method,  taken  so  to  speak  at  its  average  level, 
in  the  cases  (whatever  their  number  be)  in  which  it  is  success- 
ful? It  is  akin  to  the  faith-cures  that  have  been  known  for 
centuries;  it  illustrates  the  effect  of  belief  and  self-directed 
thought  according  to  the  obscure  laws  of  self-suggestion ;  and 
the  mental  energy  thus  directed  overflows,  as  it  were,  into  the 
bodily  life.  This  method  can  be  worked  without  any  con- 
sciousness of  a  religious  character,  and  as  a  distinct  method  of 
healing  is  calling  forth  widespread  attention  and  interest  at 
the  present  time.  For  example,  means  are  found  to  concen- 
trate the  patient's  attention  on  the  thought  that  sickness  and 
disease  are  not  ultimate  realities  at  all ;  that  they  have  no  over- 
mastering natural  power  in  themselves;  that  harmony  and 
health  are  the  powerful  things  in  life,  and  are  his,  as  it  were,  by 
"  natural  right."  By  such  means,  combined  with  special 
mental  suggestions  relevant  to  the  particular  case,  unquestion- 
able results  in  the  way  of  healing  have  been  produced. 

When  taken  at  its  highest  and  best,  the  method  of  mental 
healing  involves  the  strengthening  and  development  of  self- 
suggestion  by  the  vital  principle  of  effective  prayer.  But  in 
order  to  be  understood  and  valued,  from  this  point  of  view, 
the  method  must  be  detached  from  the  eccentricities  and  ex- 
travagances of  "  Christian  Science  "  and  similar  systems. 

There  is  nothing  utterly  outside  the  Life  of  God.     His  life 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  99 

is  all  Perfection  —  perfection  of  Strength  and  of  Joy  as  well  as 
of  Holiness  and  Love.  The  evils  and  sulterings  of  humanity 
have  no  power  of  abiding-  reality  in  themselves.  God  wills 
man's  physical  as  well  as  his  spiritual  health.  Health  and 
salvation  have  behind  them  the  strength  of  Almighty  Wisdom 
and  Almighty  Love.  These  thoughts  may  be  expressed  in 
many  different  ways;  but  they  all  ha\e  the  same  inner  meaning, 
and  the  concentration  of  the  mind  on  that  inner  meaning  makes 
of  it  a  saving  and  healing  power. 

This  mental  act  is  of  the  essence  of  prayer.  It  points  to  the 
Life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  unescapably  present,  the  Life 
of  our  life,  the  Light  of  all  our  seeing,  awaiting  complete 
recognition,  expression,  realisation.  The  different  forms  of 
faith-healing,  with  all  their  extravagances,  have  grasped  this 
truth.  We  have  Divine  resources  at  hand,  to  Hood  every 
secret  chamber  of  the  mind  with  streams  of  purity  and  health. 
Alan's  spirit  may  still  be  strong  and  living  and  free,  as  it  was 
in  the  days  when  angels  talked  with  men.  There  is  something 
greater  before  us  than  we  know.  By  the  Divine  Law  we  may 
grow  to  heights  unimaginable  now  —  dimly  foreshadowed  in 
the  familiar  words,  "  reconciled  with  God,"  "  at  one  with 
God,"  "  not  by  the  conversion  of  the  Godhead  into  flesh  but 
by  the  taking  of  the  manhood  into  God." 

VI.  Intercessory  Prayer 

We  have  said  that  genuine  prayer  involves  the  consciousness 
of  the  Life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  When  prayer  takes  the 
form  of  intercession  for  others  we  must  still  regard  it  in  the 
light  of  this  central  principle.  One  of  its  results  is  immediately 
evident.  It  teaches  us  that  our  present  ideas  of  what  person- 
ality is,  in  ourselves  and  others,  are  fragmentary  and  parsi- 
monious. Our  working  notions  of  the  meaning  of  the  distinc- 
tion between  "  self  "  and  "  others  "  are  largely  illusions. 
Human  beings  are  immature.  Hence  our  contentment  with 
these  ideas,  with  the  trouble  and  torment  they  bring  into  per- 
sonal life,  and  the  confusion  and  immorality  they  work  in  social 
organisation.  They  must  give  way  to  a  wider,  richer,  and 
deeper  conception  of  what  man  is  and  what  his  life  means,  and 
for  this  v^'e  must  look  to  the  conviction  of  one,  indivisible,  all- 
inclusive  Life  seeking  expression  in  all  men. 

Intercessory  prayer  is  founded  on  this  conviction.  But  let 
us  first  ask,  What  are  the  benefits  which  we  do  actually  re- 


loo  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

ceive,  without  conscious  prayer,  from  other  souls  in  the  flesh? 
We  receive  life  and  knowledge,  which  it  is  our  business  to 
develop  into  love  and  wisdom.  Our  spiritual  life  is  fed  by 
what  we  receive,  as  our  physical  life  is  by  food  and  material 
aids  of  every  kind.  Knowledge  is  one  of  the  main  channels  by 
which  our  spiritual  life  is  fed,  and  it  is  the  way  in  which  our 
indebtedness  to  others  can  be  most  easily  traced.  But  the  same 
truth  pervades  our  inner  life.  An  extended  series  of  illus- 
trations might  be  found  in  the  widening  and  deepening  of 
sympathy,  the  sense  of  social  responsibility  and  righteousness, 
which  are  admitted  to  be  marked  features  of  the  modern  age. 

It  is  a  plain  fact  of  experience  that  individuals  are  dependent 
on  and  influenced  by  one  another  in  countless  ways  which  are 
often  too  large  and  again  often  too  minute  to  be  matters  of 
conscious  deliberate  intention.  We  know,  too,  that  there  is  in- 
creasing evidence  for  "telepathy," — the  influence  of  mind  on 
mind,  or  brain  on  brain,  in  obscure  ways  different  from  the 
ordinary  channels  of  sense.  Of  the  laws  of  this  influence  we 
know  little  or  nothing  as  yet,  and  so  we  can  scarcely  make  it 
subject  to  our  will ;  but  of  its  reality  there  seems  to  be  no 
reasonable  doubt. 

And  yet  no  mere  intercourse  between  one  mind  and  another, 
whether  normal  or  supernormal,  is  to  be  identified  with  prayer, 
any  more  than  mere  self-suggestion  is  to  be  identified  with 
prayer. 

Recall  what  has  been  said  on  this  latter  point.  A  prayer 
for  a  benefit  to  oneself  may  be  a  development  and  strengthening 
of  self-suggestion  through  the  realised  consciousness  of  God. 
In  the  same  way,  when  we  are  in  personal  contact  or  inter- 
course with  a  fellow-creature,  the  offering  to  God  of  our  de- 
sire for  his  welfare  may  intensify  and  strengthen  our  power  to 
help  or  inspire  or  save  him.  As  a  mother  gives  utterance  in 
prayer  to  her  longing  for  her  child's  good,  her  heart  is  opened, 
and  the  influence  she  exerts  on  her  child  becomes  not  merely 
that  of  her  own  desire  and  will  but  that  of  the  Divine  presence 
itself. 

Are  there  then  some  things  that  God  will  not  do  for  my 
friend  unless  I  pray  that  they  may  be  granted  to  him?  This 
is  a  question  which  met  us  before  in  another  form,  and  the 
answer  is  the  same,  and  yet  not  the  same,  because  necessarily 
more  fundamental. 

Prayer  strengthens  my  own  endeavours  to  overcome  per- 
sonal evil  and  realise  personal  good.     God  may  and  does  act  on 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  loi 

me  in  ways  wholly  beyond  the  range  of  my  understanding,  and 
my  desires  and  therefore  also  beyond  the  range  of  my  prayer. 
But  He  also  acts  on  me  by  means  of  my  own  desires  and 
endeavours;  and  all  that  is  good  in  these  is  intensified  by  the 
consciousness  of  God  in  prayer.  In  like  manner,  we  may  say, 
God  may  and  does  act  on  mankind  at  large  in  ways  beyond  the 
capacity  of  human  thought  and  will.  But  He  also  acts  on  man- 
kind by  means  of  human  desires  and  endeavours.  The  man 
who  uses  his  powers  and  faculties  in  the  right  way  thereby 
helps  his  fellowmen;  the  prophet,  the  teacher,  the  artist  who 
"  stirs  up  the  gift  that  is  in  him  "  thereby  advances  the  spiritual 
life  of  his  fellows.  We  are  bound  together  by  such  ties  of 
fellowship  that  no  one  can  live  to  himself  and  no  one  can  die 
to  himself.  The  Bishop  of  London,  speaking  of  a  visit  to  a 
children's  hospital,  well  said:  "  It  is  a  monstrous  injustice  that 
a  little  one  should  die  for  the  sins  of  its  parents,  unless  in  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  in  the  solidarity  of  humanity,  God  is 
preparing  some  better  thing  for  us  which  more  than  counter- 
i)alances  the  evil  which  may  be  wrought  through  it.  .  .  .  Inter- 
cession ...  is  one  of  the  means  by  w'hich  the  influence  of 
others  can  tell  upon  the  human  race."  So  far  as  God  acts  on 
my  fellowman  by  means  of  my  desire  and  will,  so  far  may  the 
offering  to  God  of  my  desire  for  a  fellowman's  good  be  a  con- 
dition of  the  fulfilment  of  God's  good  purpose  for  him. 

The  same  principles  regarding  the  limits  of  prayer  imposed 
by  reason  and  reverence,  the  need  of  active  endea^•our  (ora  et 
labora),  and  the  significance  of  failure,  or  apparent  failure,  are 
as  valid  in  the  case  of  intercession  as  in  the  case  of  personal 
petition. 

Can  we  appeal  to  experience  in  proof  of  the  efficacy  of  in- 
tercessory prayer?  Most  people,  whose  minds  are  not  biassed 
on  the  side  of  scepticism  or  doubt,  will  agree  with  the  following 
summary  judgement  of  Canon  Streeter:  "  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
whether  it  is  because  when  we  pray  for  others  we  are  less 
blind  to  their  real  and  highest  needs  than  we  are  when  we  pray 
for  ourselves,  or  whether  it  is  because  such  prayers,  being  more 
disinterested,  are  more  truly  prayers  '  in  His  name,'  it  is  the 
experience  of  many  with  whom  I  have  spoken  on  this  subject 
that  such  prayers  are  answered  too  often  and  in  too  striking  a 
way  to  make  the  hypothesis  of  coincidence  at  all  a  possible 
explanation."  ^  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  admit  that  there  is 
much  value  in  the  appeal  to  objective  (experimental  or  purely 

a  Streeter,  Re-statement  (tn4  Re-union,  p.    17. 


I02  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

evidential)  tests  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  The  essential  nature 
of  prayer  is  not  touched  by  such  tests. 

The  suggestion  for  a  hospital-ward  test,  put  forward  by 
Professor  Tyndall  in  1872,  is  not  likely  to  be  revived.  The 
very  conditions  of  such  an  experiment  would  exclude  genuine 
prayer.  There  would  only  be  a  collective  demand  from  a  num- 
ber of  persons  that  God  should  exercise  Plis  power  in  a  certain 
way.  And  further,  as  the  possibilities  of  mental  action,  in 
ways  beyond  the  limits  of  what  is  familiar  in  normal  experi- 
ence, are  being  opened  up,  it  can  scarcely  be  denied  that  a 
number  of  persons,  who  concentrated  their  thoughts  and  wishes 
on  the  welfare  of  a  group  of  sufferers,  might  produce  an  actual 
change  in  their  condition  without  any  real  test  of  prayer  being 
involved  at  all.^ 

To  dwell  on  apparent  answers  to  prayer  —  many  of  which 
we  need  not  doubt  are  real  answers  —  seems  to  be  of  little  use. 
Such  appeals  do  not  meet  the  difficulties  of  the  sincere  believer 
whose  own  petitions  appear  to  him  to  have  failed,  or  those  of 
the  doubter  who  questions  the  utility  of  prayer  altogether;  and 
since  the  events  in  question,  when  appealed  to  as  evidential, 
must  be  regarded  purely  as  objective  occurrences,  they  always 
challenge  the  possibility  of  alternative  explanations. 

We  must  not,  however,  surrender  the  conviction  that  inter- 
cessory prayer  is  not  merely  subjective  but  has  actual  objective 
effects.  Its  subjective  results  are  of  great  practical  importance, 
but  they  would  surely  fail  if  belief  in  its  objective  efficacy 
failed.  It  has  been  said,  in  a  metaphor  which  is  forcible  if  a 
little  crude,  that  from  the  Divine  point  of  view  man  is  "  a  dis- 
tributing centre,  first  for  his  own  self,  then  for  his  use  in  reach- 
ing others."  Communion  through  personal  petition  intensifies 
a  man's  own  consciousness  of  God ;  but  full  communion  with 
the  Soul  of  souls  is  not  possible  so  long  as  he  thinks  of  himself 
alone.  It  is  written,  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me, 
saying,  All  souls  are  Mine."  Intercession  is  therefore  the 
culmination  of  prayer.  It  deepens  our  objective  interests  and 
develops  in  us  a  wider  sympathy.  The  thought  of  self  is 
merged  in  that  of  a  larger  human  life,  culminating  in  the  real- 
isation of  a  great  host  of  beings,  kindred  in  nature  with  us, 
sharing  our  weakness  and  our  need,  and  with  us  "  children  of 
one  Father." 

This  leads  naturally  to  the  subject  which  demands  considera- 

9  See  the  excellent  observations  of  Everett,  Thei^tn  and  fh?  (Christian  Faith,  p.  463. 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  103 

tion  in  bringing'  to  a  close  our  summary  survey  of  a  great 
problem  of  religious  belief  and  experience. 

VII.  Common  Prayer 

Without  yielding  any  degree  of  assent  to  the  theory  that  re- 
ligion is  originally  and  fundamentally  a  purely  social  experi- 
ence, "  the  consciousness  of  the  highest  social  values,"  we  must 
still  admit,  \yith  most  students  of  the  history  of  religion,  that 
prayer  and  religious  ceremonies  in  general  are  social  in  their 
origin.  "  Public  worship,"  says  Jevons  in  his  work  on  the 
Study  of  Comparative  Religion,  "  has  been  from  the  beginning 
the  condition  without  which  private  worship  could  not  begin 
and  without  which  private  worship  could  not  continue." 

If  intercession  implies  the  feeling  for  others  who  are  related 
to  God  as  I  am  related.  Common  Prayer  is  wholly  built  on  this 
feeling;  it  is  a  social  act,  an  act  in  which  a  group  of  individuals 
consciously  share.  This  can  be  traced  through  the  various 
stages  of  the  unfolding  religious  spirit  of  man,  from  the 
patriarchal  God  and  the  tribal  God  up  to  the  universalism  of 
Christianity,  with  its  appeal  to  and  for  the  ideal  union  of  all 
souls  in  "  our  Father,  Who  art  in  heaven." 

It  is  not  only  the  result  of  an  historic  growth ;  it  would  seem 
also  a  natural  necessity  that  the  Church  should  come  into 
being,  with  a  place  of  its  own  in  the  communal  life,  as  the 
distinctive  instrument  and  organ  of  public  worship.  The 
Church  is  indeed  more  than  this,  but  if  it  is  less  than  this  it  is 
not  a  Church. 

Why  have  we  spoken  of  "  a  natural  necessity  "  ?  Because 
that  which  is  omnipresent  must  be  capable  of  revealing  itself 
soiuczi'here,  or  it  is  altogether  out  of  relation  to  place;  and 
that  which  is  eternal  must  be  capable  of  revealing  itself  some- 
ivJicn,  or  it  is  altogether  out  of  relation  to  time.  More  con- 
cretely: if  "  God  in  man  "  is  to  be  not  only  a  human  concep- 
tion but  also  a  spiritual  force,  then  on  the  field  of  time  its 
realisation  must  be  found,  with  a  dcfiniteness,  particularity,  and 
concentration  of  moral  and  spiritual  life  which  can  make  the 
appeal  required.  If  human  literature  is  inspired,  there  must 
be  some  literature  representative  and  typical  of  this  inspiration 
in  those  moral  and  spiritual  things  which  are  necessary  for  our 
salvation.  If  all  days  are  ever  to  become  holy  and  all  places 
sacred,  there  must  be  some  definite  day  and  hour,  some  place 


104  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

accessible  to  all,  for  such  regulated  and  orderly  meditation  on 
Divine  things  as  may  make  them  become  a  progressive  force 
in  the  life  of  time.  If  the  ideal  of  a  "  natural  supernatural- 
ism  "  is  ever  to  be  realised  by  men,  there  must  be  some  material 
things  capable  of  a  sacramental  value  —  capable,  though  nat- 
ural, of  suggesting  the  supernatural ;  though  material,  of  sug- 
gesting the  spiritual. 

The  essence  of  such  worship  is  the  common  act.  The 
psychological  justification  for  it  is  the  "  contagiousness  of 
emotion."  The  mental  state  of  every  individual  in  a  large 
gathering  is  affected  by  the  mental  state  of  the  gathering  as  a 
whole.  It  is  a  case  of  the  "  suggestibility  of  the  individual 
through  the  social  group."  Prayer  in  public  worship  is  there- 
fore at  once  personal  and  intercessory.  Canon  Streeter  has 
well  said :  "  It  is  only  in  so  far  as  the  congregation  or,  at  any 
rate  the  majority  of  those  present,  are  at  the  same  moment  con- 
centrating themselves  on  the  same  act  of  devotion  that  the  ob- 
ject of  the  '  assembling  together  '  is  fully  attained."  And  then, 
personal  interests  give  place  to  elemental  things,  the  abiding 
and  general  needs  and  aspirations  of  humanity;  and  the  satis- 
faction of  these  appears,  not  as  incidental  but  as  the  primary 
and  fundamental  impulse  of  the  common  will.  Interest  is 
awakened  in  them,  capacity  for  them  revealed,  desire  for  them 
aroused. 

Whatever  "  order  "  or  method  is  adopted,  the  problem  is 
psychological  as  well  as  religious  —  to  arouse  and  guide  the 
attention  and  thought  of  the  assembly  so  that  each  one  may  be 
responsive  to  the  Divine  influence.  The  dangerous  pervasive 
effects  of  custom,  convention,  and  routine  do  not  alter  the 
essential  fact  or  the  ideal  purpose  of  Common  Prayer. 

Must  we  hold  that  Common  Prayer  ought  to  be  limited  to 
the  elemental  spiritual  needs  of  humanity?  May  it  extend  to 
the  special  needs  of  the  national  life,  above  all  in  times  of  public 
distress  and  national  danger?  The  case  of  war  will  more  than 
suffice  for  illustration.  It  has  been  maintained  that  it  is 
"  distinctly  wrong  to  enter  on  a  war  in  which  we  cannot  with 
a  clear  conscience  pray  for  victory."  We  fully  admit  that 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  this  is  true.  We  admit  that,  given  the 
sincere  conviction  of  the  justice  of  our  cause,  we  ought  to 
pray  for  victory  —  but  on  one  condition :  that  we  have  cast 
away  every  vestige  of  the  notion  of  a  tribal  God  Who  makes  it 
His  business  to  lead  a  particular  part  of  the  human  race  to 
prosperity  and  victory  over  the  rest  of  mankind.     This  belief, 


PRAYER  AND  EXPERIENCE  105 

which  was  Hterally  burnt  out  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  soul  as  by 
a  consuming  fire,  might  well  be  dismissed  finally  from  the 
modern  world. 

If  however  the  legitimacy  of  sincere  and  conscientious 
prayer  for  victory  is  granted,  what  are  we  to  say  when  two 
opposed  groups  make  the  same  appeal  to  Heaven?  "And 
Joshua  went  to  him  and  said,  Art  thou  for  us  or  for  our 
adversaries?  And  he  said,  Nay,  but  as  Captain  of  the  Host 
of  the  Lord  I  am  come."  We  too  look  into  the  dim  unknown 
in  which  lie  the  issues  of  the  world's  present  life;  and  with 
the  same  intensity  of  meaning  the  question  rises  to  our  lips, 
alike  in  the  things  of  our  individual  lives  and  in  the  things  of 
that  greater  life,  no  less  real,  to  which  we  all  contribute  by 
our  very  being,  and  which  makes  us,  as  a  nation,  one  people. 
And  to  us,  as  to  the  Hebrew  leader,  the  same  answer  is  given. 
In  all  the  quests  and  conquests  of  this  life  we  are  but  doing 
our  part  in  a  Host  as  innumerable  as  all  the  ages  of  time ;  we 
are  but  workers  in  a  Great  Plan  whose  issues  are  vaster  than 
our  clearest  vision  can  discern.  The  Divine  Word  comes,  not 
to  guarantee  that  all  for  which  we  go  forth  to  contend  shall  be 
won,  or  lost;  it  comes  as  Messenger  of  that  Host  whose  move- 
ment means  that  in  this  struggle  we  and  our  foes  shall  work 
out  a  greater  good,  and  tJiat  nothing  of  good  zvJiicli  is  hidden 
in  our  ideals  or  in  theirs  shall  be  lost. 

When  we  consider  the  ultimate  issues  of  prayer  as  the 
common  act  of  a  group  of  minds  we  find  that  problems  are 
raised  which  go  to  the  root  of  the  mysteries  of  group-life  and 
community-life  in  its  moral  and  spiritual  aspects. 

We  may  state  these  problems,  but  in  doing  so  we  find  that 
they  take  us  beyond  the  limits  of  the  known.  Our  data  for 
framing  even  an  hypothesis  are  few  and  fragmentary.  The 
psychology  of  group-life  is  only  beginning  to  receive  attention. 
A  few  writers  have  touched  on  the  problems  presented  by  one 
aspect  of  it, —  the  "mind  of  the  crowd";  and  it  is  a  matter 
of  experience  that  a  "  mob  "  is  capable  of  acting  with  one  idea 
reinforced  by  one  mass  of  feeling,  but  manifests  collectively 
a  more  primitive  type  of  mind  than  is  represented  by  the  indi- 
viduals composing  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
unification  of  thought  and  feeling  in  the  collective  mind  of  a 
group  necessarilv  implies  reversion  to  a  more  primitive  and 
lower  type,  as  in  "  mob  passion  "  ;  and  were  it  possible,  humanly 
speaking,  to  educate  and  guide  the  mind  of  a  great  com- 


io6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

munity  into  the  possibility  of  such  unified  action,  the  effects 
would  be  vast  beyond  conception  and  imagination.  The  hfe 
of  a  modem  nation  is  essentially  a  group-life  of  the  most 
complex  kind,  consisting  of  groups  within  groups.  What 
force  can  guide  this  Leviathan  into  ideal  unity  of  thought  and 
feeling?  The  Greek  mind,  as  represented  by  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle, answered  confidently  that  the  State  alone  can  do  it 
and  the  State  must  do  it.  The  German  mind,  abandoning  all 
the  idealism  which  was  vital  to  the  position  of  the  greater 
Greeks,  has  given  the  same  answer,  and  has  wrought  out  its 
answer,  and  is  now  gathering  in  the  fruit  of  its  work. 

There  is  one  institution  which  has  in  it  the  power  of  leading 
men  into  a  life  based  on  a  unified,  moralised,  spiritualised  will 
—  not  indeed  by  way  of  guidance  in  the  multitudinous  details 
of  progress  but  by  contributing  the  inspiration  and  idealism 
which  is  essential.  That  institution  is  the  Church  Universal. 
But  in  order  to  achieve  anything  towards  this  great  end,  the 
Church  must  learn  to  be  One  herself.  A  Church,  one  yet 
universal,  with  one  mind  and  one  ideal  animating  all  her 
leaders  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  a  Church  that  has 
purged  herself  of  competitive  sectarianism  and  pride  of  pre- 
dominance and  prestige, —  such  a  Church  alone  can  mobilise 
her  moral  and  spiritual  forces  and  speak  to  a  distracted  Avorld 
the  unifying  and  creative  word.  In  the  hands  of  such  a 
Church,  the  efficacy  of  Common  Prayer  would  be  no  longer  a 
problem,  a  speculation,  a  possibility,  but  a  sublime  and  vic- 
torious reality.  Such  a  Church  is  as  yet  only  a  hope ;  but  the 
hope  is  precious  because  we  see  it  springing  from  an  actual 
desire. 

"  O  God,  Who  art,  and  wast,  and  art  to  come,  before  Whose 
face  the  generations  rise  and  pass  away:  age  after  age  the 
living  seek  Thee,  and  find  that  of  Thy  faithfulness  there  is  no 
end.  Our  fathers  in  their  pilgrimages  walked  by  Thy  guid- 
ance :  still  to  their  children  be  Thou  the  cloud  by  day,  the  fire  by 
night.  O  Thou  Sole  Source  of  peace  and  righteousness:  take 
now  the  veil  from  every  heart,  and  join  us  in  one  communion 
with  Thy  prophets  and  saints  who  have  trusted  in  Thee,  and 
were  not  ashamed." 


lY 


THE  SCOPE  AND  THE  LIMITATIONS 

OF  PRAYER 

BY 

The  Rev.  EDWARD  J.  HAWKINS 

MINISTER    OF     SOUTHERNHAY     CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH,     EXETER 


IV 

THE  SCOPE  AND  THE  LIMITATIONS  OF 

PRAYER 

Prayer  is  either  the  greatest  faculty  man  has,  or  the  greatest 
dehision  by  which  he  has  ever  been  misled.  The  testimony  of 
saints  in  every  age  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  it  is  the 
former.  The  experience  of  tlie  majority  of  men  seems  to 
compel  us  to  conclude  that  it  is  the  latter.  Prayers  which  have 
produced  no  result,  so  far  as  can  be  judged,  far  outnumber 
those  in  regard  to  which  there  may  be  reason  for  saying  that 
they  have  been  effectual.  Such  a  statement  will  undoubtedly 
shock  many  pious  readers.  They  will  offer  various  reasons 
for  the  apparent  uselessness  of  many  prayers.  They  will  al- 
lege, for  example,  that  God  answers  prayer  in  His  own  way, 
not  always  as  we  expect. 

Mr.  A.  C.  Turner  in  his  paper  on  "  Faith,  Prayer,  and  the 
World's  Order  "  in  a  recently  published  volume  shows  the  out- 
come of  this.  "  Religious  people,"  he  writes,  "  have  for  long 
generations  been  schooled,  under  the  guise  of  the  duty  of 
resignation  to  the  mysterious  wmII  of  God,  to  expect  little  in 
answer  to  their  private  prayers."  ^  Such  an  outcome  should 
suggest  the  falseness  of  the  plea. 

Again,  some  will  affirm  that  God  may  answer  prayer  by  the 
denial  as  well  as  by  the  granting  of  our  request,  and  that  "  No  " 
is  as  truly  an  answer  as  "  Yes."  This.  ho\vever,  is  not  the 
language  of  the  New  Testament,  in  which  no  exception  of  this 
sort  is  made;  and.  moreover,  it  surely  so  confuses  the  whole 
practice  of  prayer  as  to  make  it  of  little  or  no  value. 

The  fact  is  that  all  pleas  of  this  kind  are  somewhat  dis- 
honest. Thev  arise  out  of  the  need  that  is  felt  for  justifying 
the  ways  of  God  to  men  when  those  ways  appear  to  belie  His 
promises.  Then  the  promises  are  so  interpreted  as  to  make 
violation  of  them  impossible  whatever  happens.  For  example, 
we  should  never  have  heard  of  "  No  "  as  an  answer  to  prayer 
had  not  someone  offered  a  prayer  which,  he  felt,   remained 

1  Concerning  Prayer,  p.  369. 

109 


no  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

unanswered;  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  usually  of  the  prayer 
to  which  no  answer  at  all  seems  to  have  been  given  that  we 
say  it  has  been  answered  by  "  No." 

But  if  it  be  true  that  the  majority  of  men's  prayers  seem  to 
go  unanswered,  are  we  to  say  that  effectual  prayer  is  and  must 
always  be  the  privilege  of  a  saintly  few?  If  so,  we  are  forced 
to  the  further  conclusion  that  man  is  grossly  ill-used.  The 
instinct  to  pray  is  universal :  it  appears  in  the  crudest  forms  of 
heathenism,  and  it  is  not  got  rid  of  even  in  the  highest  culture. 
An  increasing  knowledge  of  God  does  not  eradicate  it. 
Man  is  educable,  and  instinctive  action  is  replaced  by  delib- 
erate action,  so  that  in  maturity  his  instinctive  actions  are 
fewer  by  many  than  in  childhood.  But  the  instinct  to  pray  is 
never  completely  "  educated  out."  "  Few,  even  of  the  enlight- 
ened, can  escape  occasional  falls  into  religion,"  wrote  the  late 
Dr.  Gwatkin,^  with  fine  irony;  and  when  they  so  fall,  prayer 
more  often  than  not  is  the  way  of  their  descent.  Is  it  possible 
that  that  to  which  all  men  instinctively  turn  in  the  moments  of 
their  greatest  need  should  be  real  to  a  few  only,  and  to  the 
rest  nothing  but  "  vanity  and  a  striving  after  wind  "? 

It  would  be  folly  to  suggest  that  the  theory  and  practice  of 
prayer  present  no  difficulties.  Upon  examination,  however,  it 
may  appear  that  many  of  our  difficulties  in  regard  to  prayer  are 
due  to  misunderstanding  of  its  nature,  error  as  to  its  scope, 
and  consequent  misuse  of  its  forms. 

We  may  examine  the  matter  from  many  points  of  view. 
It  is  premised  that  the  writer  of  this  paper  accepts  the  Christian 
revelation  as  authoritative,  and  assumes  without  argument  (he 
truth  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  regarding  God  and  man's 
approach  to  Him. 

I.  The  Nature  of  Prayer 

Prayer  for  the  majority  of  people  means  petition.  Though 
some  use  the  term  to  denote  spiritual  exercises  from  which  the 
forms  of  petition  are  absent,  such  as  surrender,  which  is  the 
heart  of  mystical  communion  with  the  Divine,  yet  such  exer- 
cises are  either  constituents  of  petition,  as  we  shall  see,  or  are 
themselves  actually  petitionary,  though  not  formally  so.  For 
all  practical  purposes  we  may  consider  prayer  as  petition  — 
that  is,  the  seeking  from  God  of  the  production  or  prevention 
of  some  occurrence  desired  or   feared.     On  this  view  it  is 

2  The  Knowledge  of  God,  vol.  i,  p.   263. 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  iii 

evident  that  there  are  involved  in  prayer  God,  from  Whom 
action  is  sought ;  the  petitioner,  who  seeks  the  action ;  and  his 
environment  —  that  is,  the  world  outside  him  in  which  the 
contemplated  occurrence  is  to  happen  or  is  to  be  prevented  from 
happening.  If  we  are  to  study  intelligently  the  nature  of 
prayer,  and  to  try  to  understand  what  function,  if  any,  prayer 
can  perform,  we  must  consider  in  turn  these  three  —  God,  man, 
and  his  environment. 

i.  God. —  That  which  distinguished  the  early  Hebrew  con- 
ception of  God  from  the  conceptions  which  surrounding  na- 
tions had  of  Him  was  the  idea  of  His  holiness.  It  may  be  true 
that  at  first  this  idea  had  little  moral  quality  in  it,  but  grad- 
ually the  moral  nature  of  God  was  realised,  and  the  prophets 
insisted  that  a  good  life  was  more  acceptable  service  than  per- 
fection of  ritual.  At  the  same  time  there  ran  parallel  to  this 
the  conception  of  God  as  Strength,  Might,  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
In  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  however,  the  latter  notion 
was  changed  in  aspect  by  the  emphasis  that  was  laid  upon  the 
former.  Essentiallv,  God  was  now  seen  to  be  not  Might  but 
Love,  Father  rather  than  Despot ;  and  if  our  Lord  said,  "  With 
God  all  things  are  possible,"  it  was  because  nothing  is  stronger 
than  love.  God's  omnipotence  is  the  omnipotence  of  goodness. 
Christian  people  have  not  always  recognised  this  fact,  but  it 
has  emerged  clearly  in  recent  years,  and  a  study  of  the  New 
Testament  confirms  our  assurance  that  it  is  true. 

Important  results  follow  from  this,  some  of  them  deeply 
affecting  our  conception  of  prayer. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  clear  that  the  function  of  prayer 
cannot  be  either  to  persuade  God  to  give  us  what  is  good,  to 
change  His  mind  concerning  us,  or  to  remind  or  inform  Him 
of  our  needs.  "  Your  Father  knoweth  what  things  ye  have 
need  of  before  ye  ask  him,"  for  love  is  not  blind,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  has  the  acutest  apprehension  and  the  deepest  insight ; 
and  if  He  knows,  He  also  intends  for  us  the  satisfaction  of  our 
needs.  God  is  always  fully  alive  to  our  situation.  His  will 
is  always  active  in  the  direction  of  even,'-  man's  well-being.  It 
is  a  commonplace  of  prayer  that  He  is  more  ready  to  give  than 
we  are  to  receive. 

The  question  is  raised,  If  this  is  so,  how  is  it  that  God  does 
not  give  to  every  man  at  once  those  good  things  of  which  he 
stands  in  need?  What,  in  any  case,  is  the  use  of  prayer? 
These  questions  will  receive  a  fuller  answer  as  we  proceed, 
but  here  it  is  desirable  to  point  out  an  importajit  truth  which 


y 


112  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

is  often  overlooked.  Since  God's  power  is  moral  power,  it 
can  be  exercised  only  in  a  moral  way.  Now  both  coercion  and 
"  spoiling,"  as  we  term  it, —  that  is,  laxity  of  discipline  —  are 
alike  immoral.  As  a  recent  writer  truly  says  :  "  The  belief  in 
the  autocracy  of  God  is  necessarily  destructive  of  moral  judge- 
ment," ^  and  the  saying  may  be  extended.  The  exercise  of 
autocratic  power  by  God  would  necessarily  be  destructive  of 
morality.  His  power  is  not  autocratic.  Its  exercise  depends 
in  a  measure  and  manner  upon  the  will  of  men.  That  this 
should  be  so  is  necessary  also  for  the  sake  of  discipline.  The 
granting  of  a  boon  to  one  morally  unfit  to  receive  it  would  be 
an  immoral  action.  The  mere  desire  cannot  be  satisfied  unless 
at  least  it  is  accompanied  by  a  determination  of  the  will  of 
the  petitioner  of  such  a  sort  as  to  show  that  he  is  qualified  to 
deal  with  the  situation  that  will  arise  when  the  petition  is 
granted.  This  consideration  actually  brings  us  to  the  very 
heart  of  our  subject,  as  the  sequel  will  show. 

ii.  The  World. —  Certain  facts  in  regard  to  the  world  in 
which  the  occurrence  contemplated  in  prayer  is  to  take  place 
or  is  to  be  prevented  from  taking  place  are  now  to  be  con- 
sidered. Here,  we  are  in  a  realm  of  law.  All  natural 
processes  are  orderly,  governed,  regulated,  and,  to  the  extent 
to  which  men  know  the  laws  that  govern  them,  predictable. 
Even  those  phenomena  that  to  a  spectator  seem  most  capricious 
are  under  law.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  but  a 
comprehensive  survey  of  all  the  conditions  would  show  that 
the  direction,  intensity,  and  duration  of  the  apparently  hap- 
hazard blasts  are  the  perfectly  orderly  effects  of  causes,  which 
themselves  have  a  traceable  pedigree.  Moreover,  it  is  not  in 
nature  only  that  we  find  law  universal ;  it  operates  equally  in 
history  and  in  the  individual  life.  "  Whatsoever  a  man  sow- 
eth,  that  shall  he  also  reap,"  is  a  maxim  confirmed  on  every 
hand.  National  and  international  events  are  not  spasmodic; 
they  are  the  fruit  of  previous  practices  and  policies,  brought 
about  by  the  relentless  action  of  principles  embedded  in  the 
very  constitution  of  things.  Few  of  us  are  bold  enough  to 
prophesy,  but  we  can  all  be  wise  after  the  event,  and  this 
shows  that  laws  are  discoverable  when  they  have  operated 
though  we  have  not  sufficient  insight  to  discern  them  before 
they  come  into  action.  If,  to-day,  we  do  not  accept  Matthew 
Arnold's  dictum,  "  Miracles  do  not  happen,"  it  is  not  because 

3  A.    C,    Turner,    "  Faith,    Prayer,    and    the    World's    Order,"    Concerning    Prayer, 
p.   416. 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  113 

it  has  been  proved  untrue  but  because  our  conception  of  what 
a  miracle  is  has  changed.  It  has  to  be  admitted  that  there  are 
probably  innumerable  "  laws,"  as  we  term  them,  which  men 
do  not  know.  Amongst  those  we  do  know,  we  frequently  see 
how  one  works  with  another  to  produce  results  which  seem  to 
contravene  both.  We  are  bound  to  admit,  therefore,  that  upon 
occasion  the  action  of  some  law  as  yet  unknown  may  cause  an 
effect  in  apparent  violation  of  the  laws  we  know.  Closer  in- 
vestigation and  fuller  knowledge  would  show  that  the  viola- 
tion is  only  apparent;  it  is  a  resultant,  not  a  transgression. 
Without  the  co-operation  of  the  laws  we' know,  the  effect  would 
have  been  dift'erent.  They  had  their  part  in  the  production  of 
the  result.  Nevertheless,  we  may  call  the  result,  of  the  agents 
of  which  one  at  least  is  unknown,  a  miracle ;  and  that  although 
it  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  law. 

Sometimes  it  is  imagined  that  more  honour  is  done  to  God 
by  claiming  that  He  can  and  may  violate  the  laws  upon  which 
He  has  framed  creation.  This  seems  to  exalt  His  freedom, 
but  it  does  not  really  do  so.  If  He  is  entirely  good  and  wise, 
what  need  can  there  be  for  Him  to  reconsider  His  arrange- 
ments, so  to  speak,  or  to  suspend  any  of  the  operations  upon 
which  He  has  detennined?  They  perfectly  express  Him; 
they  originated  in  perfect  wisdom  and  goodness;  to  discard 
any,  even  temporarily,  would  surely  be  to  fall  from  perfection ! 
"  He  cannot  deny  Himself;  "  He  cannot  be  inconsistent  with 
Himself ;  His  perfection  involves  in  Him  an  abiding,  not  a  shift- 
ing purpose,  and  a  single,  not  a  deflected  and  broken  course. 
This  must  be  what  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  His  unchange- 
ableness,  and  find  comfort  in  the  thought  that  though  all  things 
vary  He  abides  ever  the  same.  The  mere  notion  that  God  is 
everlasting  has  little  help  in  it;  what  is  a  true  refuge  for 
harassed  souls  is  the  assurance  that,  no  matter  what  happens, 
He  is  One  Whose  nature,  aims,  and  methods  are  steadfast  and 
permanent. 

But  if  these  things  are  so,  it  follows  that  when  we  pray 
intelligently  we  cannot  desire  the  violation  or  suspension  of  any 
of  the  laws  which  are  the  framework  of  being.  We  have  to 
confess,  however,  that  such  seems  to  be  the  intention  and  pur- 
pose of  many  petitions.  If  it  were  possible  for  us  to  effect  the 
violation  or  suspension  of  these  laws,  by  doing  so  we  should 
lose  more  than  we  should  gain.  Nothing  less  than  this  would 
then  have  taken  place,  namely,  the  stability  of  God  would  have 
been  overthrown,  and  therewith  the  security  of  all  things  de- 


114  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

stroyed.  As  Professor  J.  Y.  Simpson  writes:  "If  in  some 
inscrutable  way  men  were  at  the  eleventh  hour  rescued  from 
the  consequences  of  some  natural  process,  they  would  have 
gained  their  preservation  at  the  cost  of  their  lost  sense  of  law ; 
they  would  feel  themselves  the  victims  of  chance,  and  much  of 
the  motive  for  right  conduct  would  be  gone."  •* 

It  may  be  remarked  that  whilst  in  view  of  all  this  we  cannot 
pray  for  things  the  giving  of  which  would  violate  law,  there 
is  room  doubtless  for  prayer  that  God  by  His  direct  action 
should  set  in  operation  in  our  affair  some  law  already  existent 
but  unknown,  which  by  its  co-operation  with  the  laws  whose 
action  we  can  discern  would  produce  the  result  desired.  But 
though  there  is  room  for  such  prayer  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  it  could  be  answered  except  on  the  rarest  occasions. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  generally  such  action  would  be 
detrimental  to  morality.  The  petitioner,  unaware  of  the  law 
the  operation  of  which  he  has  evoked,  would  be  unable  to  dis- 
tinguish the  result  obtained  by  its  action  from  simple  violation 
of  the  laws  he  knows;  and  then,  in  Professor  Simpson's  words 
quoted  above,  "  much  of  the  motive  for  right  conduct  would  be 
gone."  The  unknown  laws  can  be  brought  into  operation 
safely  only  in  the  case  of  the  exceptional  person:  for  example, 
Jesus  Christ. 

But  if  the  function  of  prayer  is  neither  to  inform  nor  per- 
suade God,  nor  to  interrupt  the  process  of  cause  and  effect, 
what  can  it  do  ? 

iii.  Man. —  We  turn  our  attention  to  the  petitioner,  and  ask, 
"What  is  man?" 

In  regard  to  this  question  there  has  been  an  astonishing 
change  of  view  during  recent  years.  We  might  be  justified  in 
saying  that  ideas  of  evolution  have  affected  our  conception  of 
man  more  than  anything  else.  The  evolutionary  theory  itself 
suggests  that  creation  has  not  come  to  an  end  in  man.  He  is, 
on  the  contrary,  its  growing  point,  the  apical  bud  of  the  tree 
of  life.  From  almost  every  department  of  human  inquiry- 
come  witnesses  to  the  truth  that  man  is  not  a  fixed  entity,  and 
this  is  true  not  only  of  humanity  throughout  its  generations 
but  also  of  the  individual  in  his  own  experience.  "  Man  is  a 
process,"  ^  writes  Sir  Henry  Jones ;  he  is  a  becoming  rather 
than  a  being. 

Moreover,  he  can  draw  nourishment  for  his  growth  from 

4  The  Spiritual  Interpretation  of  Nature,  p.    136. 

5  The  Working  Faith  of  the  Social  Reformer,  p.  46. 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  115 

God.  Moral  consciousness  is  his  highest  endowment ;  and  his 
distinguishing  cliaracteristic  is  his  facuhy  for  spiritual  inter- 
course. He  need  not  be  developed  only  by  those  forces  which 
act  upon  sub-human  things:  God  may  directly  affect  him.  If 
he  offers  no  opposition  to  the  Divine  power,  but  on  the  contrary 
actively  co-operates  with  it,  he  is  raised  —  as  one  may  say,  quite 
naturally  —  to  that  super-manhood  that  was  perfectly  mani- 
fested in  Jesus  Christ.  Therein,  in  man's  full  realisation  of 
sonship  to  God,  is  the  consummation  of  evolution.  In  the 
words  of  St.  Paul :  "  The  earnest  expectation  of  the  creation 
waiteth  for  the  revealing  of  the  sons  of  God." 

In  virtue  of  man's  processive  nature,  what  to-day  seems 
inevitable  on  the  morrow,  on  the  morrow  need  not  be  so.  The 
petitioner,  or  other  human  beings  concerned  in  the  affair  in 
regard  to  which  petition  is  made,  may  be  changed  in  the  in- 
terval and  so  a  new  situation  will  arise. 

Here,  it  would  seem,  is  the  real  function  and  act  of  prayer. 
God  is  unvaryingly  good.  The  regulations  of  His  universe 
consequently  cannot  l^e  and  ought  not  to  be  changed.  His 
will  is  constantly  active  for  good  toward  us,  bjjLLJts^  ejYecjive- 
riess  must  depend  in  a  measure  upon  ourselves.  We  are  con- 
tmually  changing.  If  we  submit  only  to  the  forces  in  the 
world  our  foresight  will  make  plain  to  us  the  outcome,  at  any 
rate  to  some  extent;  but  by  again  surrendering  ourselves  to 
the  immediate  influence  of  God  or  by  placing  others  under  His 
direct  action,  the  situation  may  be  so  changed  as  to  its  human 
constituents  that  an  issue  desired  may  be  secured  or  one  feared 
may  be  averted.  This  is  the  essential  act  of  prayer.  No  law 
is  violated.  God  does  not  deny  Himself  by  breaking  in  upon  a 
course  of  nature  Divinely  ordered.  He  acts  quite  normally,  so 
to  put  it,  through  what  is  nearest  to  Him,  that  is  to  say, 
through  men. 

Hence  heavy  responsibility  rests  upon  the  petitioner.  We 
have  not  got  rid  of  the  necessity  for  action  by  praying :  on  the 
contrary,  genuine  prayer  will  impel  to  more  strenuous  action. 
The  answer  to  praver  is  alwavs  in  rnen.  in  an  ability  afforded 
tothem  to  accomplish  what  they  want  if  they  will.  A  lady 
once  submitted  to  the  present  writer  the  following  case :  She 
said  that  once  as  a  little  girl  she  locked  herself  into  an  attic 
bedroom  far  from  the  rooms  in  which  the  other  occupants  of 
the  house  were.  When  she  wanted  to  get  out,  she  found  that 
in  spite  of  frantic  efforts  she  could  not  turn  the  key,  and  her 
shouts  were  not  heard.     In  great  alarm,  she  prayed  that  God 


ii6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

would  open  the  door;  and  rising  from  her  knees  she  found 
that  the  key  turned  quite  easily.  Was  that,  she  asked,  an 
answer  to  prayer?  The  reply  given  is  immaterial.  What  we 
have  to  observe  is  that  it  is  precisely  that  sort  of  answer  to 
prayer  that  is  always  to  he  looked  for.  What  we  ask  may  be 
done  is  not  done  for  us ;  but  God  acts  upon  us  in  such  wise 
that  at  the  rjpjitjmoment  we_dQ,what  is  ^wanted  quite  naturally, 
so  naturally,  it  may  be,  that  we  do  not  realise  that  our  prayer 
is  answered,  and  deny,  at  least  by  our  neglect  of  thanksgiving, 
that  God  has  had  any  part  in  the  production  of  the  desired 
result. 

11.  The  Scope  of  Prayer 

In  the  foregoing  discussion,  we  have  considered  the  nature 
of  prayer,  defining  prayer  quite  generally  as  the  appeal  to  God 
to  produce  or  prevent  some  occurrence  desired  or  feared.  We 
have  no  word  but  prayer  by  which  to  denote  such  petition, 
whatever  its  character  may  be.  But  it  is  clear  that  prayer  that 
is  effectual  and  a  real  power,  prayer  in  its  highest  and  only  true 
sense,  cannot  include  petitions  of  every  kind  without  regard  to 
their  character  or  their  purpose.  Indeed,  what  we  found  to 
be  true  as  to  the  nature  of  prayer  precludes  such  a  supposition. 
For  if  real  prayer  is  in  essence  the  placing  of  oneself  or  others 
under  the  direct  action  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  we  or  they 
may  be  changed  in  such  a  fashion  that  in  the  contemplated 
circumstances  what  we  desire  shall  be  the  natural  issue,  then 
that  change,  being  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  must  be  a 
change  in  accordance  with  His  will.  We  shall  not  by  Him 
be  made  less  amenable  to  His  will  than  we  were  before :  that 
is  obvious.  It  follow^s  that  God's  will  determines  the  scope  of 
true  prayer.  Petitions  contrary  to  His  mind  cannot  actually 
be  prayer.  "If  we  ask  anything  according  to  His  will  He 
heareth  us." 

But  this  does  not  settle  the  matter.  With  that  knowledge 
and  no  more  we  should  still  be  praying  in  the  dark,  so  to 
speak,  with  little  means  of  judging  whether  our  prayer  were 
capable  of  achieving  anything  or  not.  For  there  have  been  and 
there  are  still  innumerable  conceptions  of  God,  and  the  sup- 
posed content  of  God's  will  differs  with  every  conception  of 
Him.  I  do  not  suppose  thar  the  devout  man  of  the  Macca- 
bean  period  who  wrote  the  prayer  that  has  come  down  to  us  in 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  117 

the  109th  Psalm  (vv.  6-15),  with  its  many  vengeful  petitions, 
had  any  idea  that  he  was  dishonouring-  God  by  beseeching  llim 
to  do  acts  utterly  contrary  to  tlis  nature;  but  we,  knowing  the 
nature  of  God  more  truly,  cannot  pray  in  that  spirit.  What 
is  needed  is  an  authoritative  re\elation  of  the  nature  of  God, 
and  this  we  have  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Petition  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  is  true  and  effective  prayer. 

Now,  there  is  scarcely  any  need  to-day  to  point  out  that 
petition  in  the  name  of  Jesus  is  not  made  merely  by  adding 
"  for  Christ's  sake  "  at  the  end  of  any  series  of  requests  we 
may  prefer.  Further,  the  name  of  Jesus  is  not  a  magical  in- 
cantation of  such  potency  that  all  the  powers  that  be  are  therel)y 
bent  to  the  doing  of  our  will.  As  almost  any  commentary  will 
show,  theJMxame  "  denotes  the  manifested  iiature. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  prayer  is  petition  that  is  consonant 
with  the  manifested  nature  of  Jesus  Christ.  More  than  that, 
it  is  petition  that  is  actually  within  the  personality  of  Jesus 
Christ,  so  that  the  praying  is  a  making  known  of  His  person- 
ality,—  as  it  were  a  part  of  His  complete  self-expression  in  the 
given  circumstances.  It  originates  in  and  results  from  the  in- 
tercourse which  a  man  has  with  the  Lord ;  in  a  sense,  it  is  not 
the  man's  petition,  but  Christ's.  "  The  Spirit  himself  maketh 
intercession  for  us."  But  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this 
that  prayer  is  possible  only  when  a  man  is  rapturously  aware  of 
the  fellowship  that  exists  between  himself  and  Jesus.  There 
are  occasions  when  the  Lord  sensibly  draws  near;  but  it  is  not 
then  only  that  men  pray.  The  power  of  Christ  is  constantly 
exerted  to  subdue  men  to  His  own  likeness ;  and  without  the 
rapturous  consciousness  of  communion  they  are  nevertheless 
ministered  unto  by  Him;  and  consequently,  of  their  own  in- 
itiative, as  it  seems  and  rightly  seems  to  them,  they  may  make 
petition  that  is  really  necessary  to  the  perfect  self-expression  of 
Jesus  Christ  at  the  time.  It  is  their  own  request  they  make, 
and  in  their  own  way;  yet  it  is  likewise  Christ's,  for  they  them- 
selves no  longer  live,  but  Christ  lives  in  them.  Only  in  so  far 
as  this  is  true  can  prayer  be  made. 

It  is  clearly  desirable  to  consider  brieflv  what  is  meant  by 
"  the  personality  of  Jesus  as  made  known." 

i.  We  may  say  shortly  that  it  is  made  known  to  us  in  a 
mission  and  a  method.  Jesus  was  the  incarnation  of  Christ, 
the  eternal  Son  of  God;  and  His  life  may  be  summed  up  in 
those  terms.     "  God   sent   the   Son   into   the   world   that   the 


ii8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

world  should  be  saved  through  Him."  "  I  came  that  they  may- 
have  life,  and  may  have  it  abundantly."  His  life  throughout 
was  guided  by  that  purpose.  That  purpose  actually  produced 
His  life.  To  liberate  men  from  all  the  ills  that  afflict  them, 
especially  from  sin,  the  root  of  so  many  ills ;  to  remove  all  the 
distresses  that  are  not  inseparable  from  mortal  existence ;  and  to 
impart  to  men  life  of  a  quality  that  would  change  the  character 
of  the  ills,  by  making  them  contribute  to  its  own  fulness  and 
thiis  transforming  them  into  advantages, —  to  do  all  this  was 
the  object  of  His  being.  Actually  this  is  the  effect  He  produces 
in  those  who  give  themselves  to  Him.  The  New  Testament 
and  Christian  literature  of  all  ages  furnish  proof  of  this.  "  O 
wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body 
of  this  death?  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
"  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in  my  weaknesses, 
that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me."  The  words  are 
the  words  of  Paul;  but  the  sentiments  they  express  are  those 
of  truly  Christian  people  in  all  generations.  An  all-absorbing 
passion  and  determination  to  set  men  free  from  sin  is  one  of 
the  main  constituents  of  the  manifestation  of  the  personality  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

ii.  To  carry  this  determination  through,  He  adopted  and 
proclaimed  a  method  equally  distinctive.  Briefly,  it  was  the 
method  of  the  Cross.  That  is  essentially  the  method  whereby 
the  stronger,  purer,  and  fitter  share  to  the  utmost  the  burdens 
and  the  sorrows  which  press  upon  mankind  as  the  outcome  of 
wrong-doing.  Admittedly  it  is  right  that  calamity  should 
issue  from  wickedness.  Thus  is  avoided  the  bane  of  so  many 
of  the  attempts  of  kind-hearted  reformers,  namely,  the  relaxa- 
tion of  moral  constraint,  the  obscuring  of  moral  issues,  that 
which,  when  shown  in  the  training  of  children,  is  rightly  called 
"  spoiling."  But  at  the  same  time  by  this  method  there  is 
expressed  a  love  that  will  not  allow  our  own  advantages  to  be 
enjoyed  regardless  of  the  condition  of  others.  On  the  con- 
trary those  advantages  are  employed  in  order  the  more  fully  to 
help  the  needy.  They  are  to  be  used  up,  if  necessary,  in  service 
for  the  good  of  men.  Our  own  moral  and  spiritual  life  is  to 
be  included  in  the  offering.  The  soul  is  to  be  made  pure  and 
strong  that  it  may  the  more  powerfully  assist  the  weak  and 
sinful.  No  limit  is  to  be  placed  to  the  offering.  Utmost  phys- 
ical agony  must  not  cause  us  to  hesitate  to  make  it.  Even  the 
interruption  of  the  sense  of  communion  with  God  must  not 
stop  it.     In  a  magnificent  trust  that  God  would  not  disown  the 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  119 

soul  abandoned  to  such  an  enterprise,  the  Lord  went  out  upon 
that  supreme  adventure  of  the  Cross.  His  cry,  "  I\Iy  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  shows  that  He  paid  full 
price.  This  method  of  the  Cross  —  utter  self-giving  for  the 
highest  well-being  of  the  world  —  is  the  other  constituent  of 
the  manifestation  of  the  personality  of  Jesus  Christ. 

This  mission  and  this  method  together  mark  out  for  us  the 
scope  of  true  prayer.  If  we  have  in  view  the  good  of  man- 
kind, which  primarily  is  not  the  avoidance  of  unhappiness  but 
the  casting  out  of  immorality;  and  if  we  are  not  trying  to 
escape  the  paying  of  the  price,  but  rather  in  our  petition  are 
seeking  strength  and  wisdom  to  pay  it  in  full,  our  petitions  are 
truly  prayers. 

But  if  the  mission  and  method  of  Jesus  are  recognised  as 
marking  out  the  scope  of  prayer,  the  ideas  that  people  have  as 
to  what  may  be  prayed  for  will  be  considerably  modified.  It  is 
true  that  nothing,  concerning  which  it  is  now  felt  right  to  make 
petition,  need  be  excluded ;  but  the  motive  will  be  changed  and 
the  emphasis  will  be  shifted.  For  the  most  part,  at  the  present 
time,  even  public  prayers  are  burdened  with  petitions  for  the 
material  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  community  that  is 
represented  by  those  who  pray;  but  if  our  petition  is  truly  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  it  will  breathe  throughout  an  earnest  long- 
ing for  the  highest  good  of  the  whole  race,  and  for  the  com- 
munity or  individual  a  strong  desire  that  it  or  he  may  be  per- 
fectly equipped  for  powerful  service  and  given  grace  to  render 
it.  The  equipment  required  will  be  differently  conceived  by 
different  minds,  and  so  the  specific  petitions  will  likewise  differ. 
But  if  worldly  goods  are  asked  for,  it  will  be  manifest  that 
they  are  sought  because  they  seem  to  the  petitioner  to  be  the 
means  of  a  larger  offering,  and  are  not  desired  for  personal 
gratification.  To  take  an  illustration  from  the  circumstances 
of  to-day,  it  will  not  be  possible  to  pray  simply  for  peace,  that 
is  to  say,  for  the  cessation  of  warfare,  because  warfare  troubles 
us;  but  we  shall  pray  in  the  first  place  for  righteousness  among 
men,  and  desire  that  peace  may  come  only  when  all  the  wrong 
doing  and  wrong  thinking  which  have  w'orked  out  in  warfare 
are  discredited  and  cast  aside.  We  shall  be  prepared  to  suffer 
all  that  may  be  asked  of  us  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  end ; 
and  our  prayer  will  in  no  wise  be  an  effort  to  escape  such 
suffering.  Prayer  is  not  an  attempt  to  get  rid  of  the  Cross; 
it  is  an  exercise  in  the  use  of  it. 


I20  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


III.  Prayer  and  Faith 

It  may  be  objected  that  hitherto  nothing  has  been  said  con- 
cerning faith.  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  necessity  of 
faith  in  prayer.  Though  our  petitions  should  all  be  capable 
of  being  comprehended  within  the  mission  and  method  of 
Jesus,  and  though  we  should  confess  our  subjection  to  God 
devoutly,  the  correctness  of  our  sentiments  and  our  confession 
would  avail  nothing  without  faith.  It  is  faith  that  makes 
prayer  active.  Indeed,  from  one  point  of  view,  prayer  is  noth- 
ing  but  faith.     Prayer  is  the  petitionary  form  of  faith. 

What  is  faith,  then?  It  is  the  identification  of  ourselves, 
morally,  with  God.  This  means  not  that  we  presume  to  say  we 
are  as  good  as  God  but  that  His  will  is  to  us  the  sum  of  all 
goodness,  so  that  the  aim  of  our  will  is  the  perfect  realisation 
of  His.  We  reach  up,  as  it  were,  unto  Him;  in  our  complete 
delight  in  Him  we  strive  to  come  to  His  point  of  view,  to 
think  His  thoughts,  to  act  as  He  acts.  The  tension  due  to 
this  aspiration  gives  the  energy  to  prayer.  All  our  faculties 
are  intensified,  and  every  power  we  have  is  heightened,  in 
consequence.  Moreover,  this  concentration  of  our  being  upon 
Him  puts  us  in  the  way  of  receiving  direct  communications  of 
wisdom  or  strength  or  virtue  from  Him.  Thus  faith  is  aspir- 
ing to  the  highest  and  is  therefore  most  humble.  It  is  ready  to 
forego  its  own  wisdom  and  strength  because  none  can  compare, 
with  His.  If,  therefore,  some  desire  is  so  potent  in  us  that 
it  must  seek  satisfaction  and  consequently  issues  in  petition, 
the  desire  is  contemplated  as  it  were  from  God's  standpoint, 
and  its  satisfaction  is  sought  actually  in  His  way.  We  take 
from  Him  those  gifts  and  graces  that  will  procure  it.  The 
very  fact  that  we  are  thus  at  one  with  God  precludes  us  from 
seeking  to  satisfy  desires  contrary  to  His  nature,  and  from 
entertaining  such  desires ;  and  at  the  same  time  we  are  in  a 
position  to  have  and  rightly  to  employ  the  powers  requisite  for 
satisfying  any  desire  that  is  in  accordance  with  His  mind. 
Faith  is  the  spiritual  activity  that  makes  us  at  one  with  Him  in 
this  act  of  moral  self-identification  with  Him  that  is  at  once 
self-surrender  and  self-glorification. 

But,  it  may  be  urged,  faith,  at  any  rate  faith  in  prayer, 
surely  is  almost  synonymous  with  belief.  When  people  usually 
speak  of  faith  in  regard  to  prayer  they  mean  an  assurance  that 
what  is  asked  for  will  take  place.     In  their  vocabulary  faith 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  121 

too  often  means,  as  the  little  girl  is  reported  to  have  said  it 
meant,  "believing  what  you  know  isn't  true!"  If  only  by 
some  tour  dc  force  of  self-persuasion  or  self-deception  the 
mind  can  be  cleared,  even  temporarily,  of  any  dubiety  as  to 
the  possibility  or  certainty  of  the  desired  event  happening, 
faith  is  supposed  to  be  exercised.  Apparently  on  this  view  all 
that  God  wants  to  be  sure  of  before  He  will  give  what  is  asked 
for  is  that  the  petitioner  is  capable  of  annihilating,  by  some 
act  of  will,  the  testimony  of  reason  or  of  conscience  or  of 
both.  No  wonder  that  when  such  a  state  of  mind  is  repre- 
sented as  that  of  faith,  those  who  think  well  of  the  intelligence 
God  has  given  them  confess  that  they  cannot  have  faith. 

Actually  this  is  not  faith  at  all.  Yet  faith  does  involve 
belief.  Before  we  can  exercise  that  faith  which  attaches  us  to 
God,  and  makes  us  so  much  one  with  Him  that  we  will  stand 
with  Him  or  not  at  all,  we  must  believe  in  Him :  —  believe  in 
His  existence,  of  course,  and  believe  also  that  He  is  supremely 
good.  When  we  pray  —  when  we  reaffirm  our  attachment  to 
Him  with  a  view  of  satisfying  some  desire  of  ours  —  w^e  must 
believe  that  He  wnW  accomplish  what  we  desire,  that  it  is  a 
desire  not  inconsistent  with  His  nature,  and  that  by  Him  its 
fulfilment  can  most  readily  and  most  surely  be  brought  about. 
There  are  certain  wishes  that  occupy  us  from  time  to  time 
about  which  we  cannot  have  such  a  belief,  simply  because  we 
know  perfectly  well  that  they  are  alien  to  the  nature  of  God. 
Jesus  said :  "If  ye  have  faith  and  doubt  not  .  .  .  if  ye  shall 
say  unto  this  mountain.  Be  thou  taken  up  and  cast  into  the 
sea,  it  shall  be  done."  But  if  we  want  to  remove  the  mountain 
merely  because  it  blocks  our  view  or  in  order  to  swamp  the 
navies  of  our  enemy,  we  cannot  "  have  faith  and  doubt  not," 
because  we  know  that  our  wishes  are  utterly  out  of  keeping 
with  the  nature  of  God,  as  shown  in  Jesus  Christ.  If  we  have 
faith,  we  shall  surely  believe  that  the  powers  of  God  can  and 
will  work  to  the  end  that  we  desire ;  and  so  our  belief  may  be 
a  test  of  the  realitv,  that  is.  of  the  effectiveness,  of  our  prayers. 
As  Jesus  said  again :  "  All  things  whatsoever  ye  pray  and  ask 
for,  believe  that  ye  have  received  them  and  ye  shall  have  them." 
The  tenses  here  are  worth  noticing  as  showing  how  there  must 
be  first  the  timeless  realisation  of  our  satisfaction  through  our 
faith  in  God.     And  then  follows  its  realisation  in  time. 

It  will  now  be  evident  that  the  objection  wuth  which  this 
inquiry  (concerning  faith  in  relation  to  prayer)  opened  is 
justifiable  in  form  only,  not  in  fact.     No  mention  was  made  of 


122  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

faith  in  the  earher  portions  of  our  discussion,  but  faith  was 
the  subject  of  them  throughout.  If  we  dehght  in  God,  strain- 
ing after  Him  as  we  do  after  all  that  delights  us,  clearly  we 
shall  place  ourselves  under  His  direct  action,  and  consecjuently 
be  able  to  receive  in  ourselves  the  answer  to  those  petitions  that 
can  be  included  within  the  mission  and  method  of  Jesus. 

IV.  Intercession 

It  will  probably  be  agreed  that  the  prayers  of  any  right- 
minded  man  on  his  own  behalf  are  far  fewer  in  number  than 
those  which  he  offers  on  behalf  of  others.  For  the  State  of 
which  he  is  a  citizen,  for  the  Church  of  which  he  is  a  member, 
for  "those  who  call  him  friend,"  and  for  the  multitudes, 
unknown  by  name,  who  as  he  knows  are  in  need,  he  makes 
petition  continually.  But  if  true  prayer  consists  in  the  placing 
of  those  for  whom  we  pray  under  the  direct  action  of  God, 
how,  it  may  be  asked,  can  there  be  any  intercessory  prayer? 
A  man  by  his  faith  may  make  himself  at  one  with  God;  but 
by  what  means  can  he  produce  that  result  in  another? 

The  only  ground  there  is  for  believing  that  intercessory 
prayer  can  be  efficacious  is  the  solidarity  of  mankind.  Though 
no  blood-relationship  may  unite  them,  any  two  men  are  con- 
nected with  one  another  jjy  numerous  ties.  This  is  clearly  so 
in  the  case  of  individuals  who  are  citizens  of  the  same  State  or 
members  of  the  same  Church;  but  it  is  so  also  in  the  case  of 
persons  who  are  not  included  together  within  any  selected  com- 
munity. By  virtue  of  this  solidarity,  one  human  being  can  in 
the  truest  sense  sympathise  with  another  —  rejoice  with  his 
joys,  weep  with  his  sorrows,  fear  with  his  fears,  thrill  with 
his  aspirations,  and  feel  the  oppression  of  his  burdens  and 
the  guilt  of  his  sins.  Love  makes  the  sympathy  more  intense 
and  more  complete,  but  love  would  be  impossible  without  this 
solidarity,  which  is  the  matrix  of  love.  By  love  we  can  enter 
much  more  fully  into  the  condition  of  others.  As  in  faith  a 
man  makes  himself  at  one  with  God,  so  in  love  he  makes  him- 
self at  one  with  his  fellows.  Actually  it  is  not  until  a  man 
thus  loves  others  that  he  makes  intercession  for  them.  That 
being  so,  it  is  actually  not  he  as  an  individual  that  prays.  It  is 
the  company  he  has  in  view,  himself  included,  that  prays;  he 
himself  is  only  the  mouthpiece.  He  bears  in  himself  the  con- 
dition of  those  for  whom  he  makes  request.  He  makes  com- 
mon cause  with  them.     Consequently,  in  putting  himself  by 


SCOPE  AND  LIMITATIONS  123 

faith  under  the  direct  influence  of  God  he  puts  all  for  whom 
he  prays  under  the  same  influence.  It  acts  u^x^n  the  community 
through  himself,  not  as  an  intermediary  Ixit  as  a  constituent. 
Suppose,  for  example,  that  a  man  undertakes  to  pray  that  some 
danger  may  be  averted  from  his  friend.  Then,  as  intercessor, 
he  no  longer  considers  himself  apart  from  his  friend.  By  his 
love  for  him,  they  two  arc  made  one ;  and  that  one,  by  the  one 
constituent's  prayer,  is  acted  upon  directly  by  God.  The  friend 
alone  cannot  meet  the  threatening  danger;  but  the  two  together, 
by  the  help  of  God,  are  equal  to  overcoming  it.  If  their  unity 
is  broken,  the  prayer  fails.  But  the  unity  cannot  be  broken  if 
the  petitioner  maintains  his  love.  There  can  be  no  intercessory 
prayer  without  this  willingness  of  the  one  to  be  involved  in  the 
condition  of  the  other.  This  is  the  truth  implied  in  priesthood. 
The  high  priest  in  ancient  Israel  entered  the  Holy  of  Holies  to 
make  atonement  for  the  people  as  being  one  with  them  in  their 
weakness  and  idolatry,  even  though  he  personally  may  not  have 
been  guilty  of  sin.  The  atonement  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ 
for  men  is  real  in  virtue  of  His  complete  participation,  through 
His  love  for  men,  in  humanity's  sinful  condition.  "  Him  who 
knew  no  sin.  He  made  to  be  sin  on  our  behalf ;  that  we  might 
become  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  Intercessory  prayer 
has  meaning  and  efficacy  only  when  the  one  who  prays  merges 
his  individuality  in  the  community,  seeking  not  his  own,  in  his 
love  finding  his  life  in  the  whole,  and  thus  in  himself  placing  the 
whole  under  the  inmiediate  influence  of  God. 

V.  Conclusion 

If  the  view  of  prayer  that  has  been  outlined  in  the  foregoing 
discussion  be  true,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  no  phase  of  human 
life  concerning  which  prayer  may  not  be  made  or  in  regard  to 
which  it  cannot  be  efifectual.  Clearly,  prayer  of  this  sort  will 
be  the  mightiest  factor  in  the  world's  progress  towards  all  that 
is  true  and  noble,  and  the  source  and  guide  of  every  work  that 
makes  strongly  and  directly  for  the  achievement  of  the  highest 
ideals  of  mankind.  No  matter  how  highly  cultured  we  may  be, 
we  are  still  severally  and  collectively  far  from  that  principle 
and  manner  of  life  which  has  been  denoted  by  "  the  Kingdom 
of  God."  Consequently,  for  oneself  and  one's  family,  for 
the  Church  and  for  the  State,  for  the  sick  and  afilicted.  and  for 
the  strong  and  prosperous,  in  times  of  distress  and  in  times  of 


124  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

well-being,  there  is  room  and  reason  for  prayer.  "  In  His 
will  is  our  peace;  "  in  His  will  is  all  that  humanity  longs  for 
and  suffers  for;  and  by  prayer,  that  is,  by  the  placing  of  our- 
selves under  the  direct  action  of  God,  through  faith,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  His  will  must  be  accomplished ;  and  with  the 
accomplishment  of  His  will  our  own  perfecting  and  that  of 
mankind. 


V 

A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  ON 
PRAYER 

BY  THE  LATE 

Rev.  ALEXANDER  FORBES  PHILLIPS,  M.A. 

VICAR    AND     RECTOR,     ST.     ANDREW'S    PARISH     CHURCH,     GORLESTON,    SUFFOLK, 
AND    OFFICIATING   CHAPLAIN,    ROYAL    NAVAL   BASE 


V 

A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  ON  PRAYER 

The  world-struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged  is  presenting 
most  things  in  a  new  light.  War  is  ever  a  great  revealer. 
With  all  its  horrors  and  amid  its  tragedies,  it  stands  the  solemn 
teacher.  In  the  Providence  of  things  it  would  seem  that  war, 
and  war  alone,  forces  men  to  look  realities  in  the  face.  It  is 
the  fire  that  tests  every  man's  work.  Its  marches,  bivouacs, 
thrills,  successes,  and  failures  provide  a  singular  school  of  ex- 
perience, bringing  strange  revelations.  The  soldier  amid  the 
thunder  of  guns  preserves  a  wonderful  soul-calm.  When  the 
Book  of  Lite  and  Death  opens  we  find  ourselves  relying  upon, 
treasuring  and  clinging  to,  simple  faith,  comradeship,  charity 
—  in  a  word,  soul-forces.  The  bullets  play  strange  dirges  and 
paeans  upon  the  strings  of  being  before  they  break  them. 

In  this  breathless  struggle  to-day  may  we  pause  for  the  mo- 
ment and  ask,  "  How  fares  Prayer?"  The  mint  of  extreme 
adversity  and  of  supreme  heroism  has  re-coined  many  things, 
and  among  them  standing  out  clearly  are  Duty,  Patriotism, 
Self-sacrifice,  and  what  is  more,  Self-obliteration,  and  Prayer. 
W^hen  we  get  down  to  bed-rock  and  consider  causes,  we  shall 
find  that  the  dynamics  of  prayer  are  associated  with  all.  I  do 
not  mean  prayer  in  the  conventional  sense  but  in  its  very  es- 
sence. The  rough  experiences  of  war  have  tossed  us  back  to 
the  consideration  of  prayer  as  something  more  real  perhaps 
than  what  we  were  taught,  somewhat  formally,  as  children 
to  regard  as  supplication.  The  greater  the  gloom,  the  more 
we  search  for  the  light,  the  more  gladly  we  seize  upon  each 
gleam.  Sailors  and  soldiers  go  cheerfully  on,  as  is  their  creed; 
they  ride  safe  in  their  rough-and-ready  belief  where  more  rigid 
formalists  would  founder  or  stumble.  In  the  orchestra  of 
shot  and  shell  many  notes  harmonise.  The  soldiers'  prayer  at 
the  beginning  becomes  a  real  thanksgiving  when  the  fight  is 
over. 

What  is  the  logic  of  prayer?     There  must  be  something 

fundamental  and  absolute  in  it,  for  it  emerges  clear  and  defined, 

127 


128  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

surviving  dynasties,  disasters,  national  crises,  and  the  shock  of 
soul  when  hell's  chorus  opens.  How  far  is  the  mental  attitude 
of  one  who  holds  belief  in  it  the  outcome  of  an  intellectual 
process?  What  is  the  nature  of  that  process?  li  prayer  be 
anything  at  all  it  must  be  power  of  some  kind,  and  by  this  time 
Christianity  ought  to  be  able  to  offer  a  scientific  textbook  on  the 
subject  which  carries  conviction  to  an  intellectual  man.  This 
is  the  challenge,  not  necessarily  antagonistic,  but  certainly  crit- 
ical, and  characteristic  of  a  large  portion  of  the  educated  laity 
to-day,  who  are  willing  and  even  anxious  to  discuss  much  that 
this  war  has  made  significant. 

I  once  heard  a  preacher  say :  "  Religious  belief  has  no  logic. 
Prayer  does  not  belong  to  the  intellectual  and  rational  order  of 
things  but  to  the  spiritual.  We  cannot  reason ;  we  can  only 
believe.''  With  the  experience  of  the  centuries  behind  him,  it 
seemed  to  me  a  deplorable  statement.  In  the  light  which 
Europe's  bonfire  has  thrown  on  things,  I  feel  that  he  could  not 
say  that  now.  H  prayer  did  not  belong  to  the  rational  order 
of  things,  it  would  gradually  have  disappeared  from  among  the 
formative  forces  of  progressive  human  life.  Yet  to-day  it  is 
the  most  living  force  in  our  midst.  H  religion  is  to  retain  its 
hold  upon  thinking  men  when  the  war  is  over,  if  it  would  con- 
tinue to  attract  men  when  the  want  of  prayer  and  consequent 
help  is  less  felt,  then  we  must  have  a  textbook  on  the  dynamics 
of  Prayer.  Experience  has  vindicated  its  use,  just  as  it  has 
vindicated  the  use  of  electricity.  The  old  distinction  between 
man's  intellectual  and  spiritual  potentiality  will  no  longer  serve 
to  get  rid  of  awkward  questions.  His  belief  in  prayer  must 
stand  the  same  searching  examination  that  is  applied  to  any 
other  branch  of  knowledge. 

Can  it?  I  venture  to  think  it  can.  Argument  is  what  we 
say  about  things,  but  the  argument  that  tells  is  what  the  thing 
has  to  say  of  itself.  Prayer,  like  gravitation,  speaks  for  itself 
in  its  power,  its  response,  and  its  use.  We  gain  a  knowledge 
of  the  general  laws  of  nature,  of  gravity,  of  steam  or  explosives 
by  observation  and  experiment.  This,  briefly  stated,  is  the 
method  of  all  inductive  science.  It  is  not  the  facts  under  ob- 
servation that  supply  the  laws  but  the  mind  getting  to  work  on 
these  facts.  Science  here  is  not  complete  in  itself,  for  it  starts 
from  assumptions  —  the  Cosmic  order  with  all  its  forces,  of 
whose  origin  it  can  give  no  account.  There  is  no  reason  why 
the  inductive  method  should  be  restricted  to  the  examination  of 
certain  material  phenomena.     Christianity  is  a  history  and  a 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  129 

science;  and  upon  the  data  supplied  and  upon  the  measure  of 
men's  exi)eriencc  the  Church  has  founded  her  conchtsions. 
She  has  followed  precisely  the  course  observed  in  mechanics, 
psychology,  or  gunnery. 

The  individual  begins  with  facts  of  inner  and  outer  expe- 
rience. These  facts,  though  realised  more  strongly  by  some 
than  by  others,  seem  to  be  universal  elements  in  human  nature. 
Now^  the  results  of  the  observation  of  the  inner  consciousness 
of  self,  the  consciousness  of  right  and  wrong,  the  spiritual 
faculties  and  yearnings  have  given  us  certain  rules  or  laws  as 
well  as  certain  dogmas,  and  one  of  the  permanent  results  is 
the  observance  of  Prayer.  From  East,  West,  North,  and 
South  comes  separate  testimony  to  its  value.  The  belief  has 
been  established  independently  by  various  tribes  and  kindreds. 
The  Law  of  Prayer  is  not  confined  to  the  system  of  thought 
founded  by  the  historic  Christ.  We  cannot  discover  a  race 
that  has  not  poured  out  supplication  to  Deity.  The  man  who 
sneers  at  prayer  has  broken  with  the  religious  view  of  the 
world.  For  it  is  the  foundation-stone  of  all  religions,  and  is 
religion's  most  valued  asset.  The  language  of  Homer  rep- 
resents the  sense  of  all  ancient  writers: 

The  Gods  are  moved  by  offerings,  vows  and  sacrifices. 
Daily  prayers   atone   for  daily   sin.i 

Pythagoras  puts  the  views  of  his  day  not  less  strongly  : 
In  all  thou  doest  first  let  prayer  ascend. 

In  Mesopotamia  we  can  handle  the  original  liturgies  of  the 
past  centuries  in  baked  bricks.  Eg}'pt  echoes  the  same  mystic 
confidence.  The  hymns  of  the  Vedas,  a  legacy  from  the 
earliest  history  of  India,  bear  witness  to  the  heart  of  man 
turning  to  God  in  prayer. 

The  application  of  prayer  is  as  real  a  fact  as  the  ap])lication 
of  electricity.  We  knew  of  the  latter  before  w^e  put  it  tO; 
practical  use.  What  it  really  is  we  cannot  say  even  now%  but 
we  have  established  a  system  of  dynamics  in  connection  w'ith 
it.  What  is  the  logic  of  electricity?  We  reply  at  once,  its 
usefulness.  What  is  the  logic  of  prayer?  The  answer  is  the 
same,  its  usefulness. 

We  can  speak  of  the  dynamics  of  prayer  w^ith  precisely 
the  same  confidence  with  which  scientists  use  the  expression. 
We  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  science  which  investigates, 

1  Iliad,  Bk.  ix. 


130  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  the  science  which  merely  sneers  can  be  invited  to  come 
into  the  open  and  try  to  justify  its  sneers. 

i.  Science,  once  the  antagonist,  is  now  the  rehgious  media- 
tor. Rehgion  never  experienced  such  a  revolution  in  dogma 
as  science.  Modern  thought  has  completely  changed  our 
accepted  ideas  of  matter.  If  the  researches  of  scientific  genius 
have  demonstrated  any  one  thing,  it  is  that  thought  is  a  vital, 
living  thing  —  the  most  subtle  dynamic  in  the  Cosmic  scheme. 
The  atom  —  science's  one  foundation  —  is  now  discovered  to 
be  a  miniature  solar  system  with  electrons  whirling  at  terrific 
speed  with  unerring  certainty  of  movement  and  with  a  poten- 
tiality that  arrests  and  astounds  us.  Matter,  the  solid  bed- 
rock of  mid-Victorian  thought,  is  now  seen  to  be  a  mode  of 
motion. 

We  know  that  everything  in  the  universe  had  its  origin  in 
thought,  and  it  is  thought,  wrought  out  and  preserved  in  stone 
and  iron,  which  upholds  all  structures  from  a  toy  to  a  battle- 
ship. Prayer  is  thought  directed  towards  a  definite  objective 
—  so  millions  believe  —  directed  to  the  Central  Heart  of 
things,  arrested  by  the  attractive  power  there.  On  the  scien- 
tific basis  it  stands  as  firm  a  fact  as  anything  in  this  world. 
Experimental  psychology  has  established  the  fact  that  waves 
of  thought  projected  by  brain-action  pass  through  earth  and 
rock.  We  know  that  certain  forms  of  light  can  be  projected 
through  our  bodies.  The  various  ways  in  which  thought- 
forces  arrive  at  their  object  now  occupy  the  studies  of  our 
leading  thinkers.     Belonging  to  such  an  order  is  Prayer. 

Interchange  of  thought  between  personalities,  and  the  inves- 
tigation of  the  processes,  have  always  had  a  place  in  philosophy, 
especially  in  the  East.  Consider  for  a  moment  thought  as 
transmitted  by  gestures,  written  signs,  and  speech.  Any  and 
all  of  these  media  are  devoid  of  meaning  by  themselves,  yet 
the  symbols  enable  one  person  to  read  the  inner  workings  of 
another's  soul.  They  will  lay  bare  the  inner  secrets  of  the 
heart  and  brain.  Such  a  fact  is  inconceivable  had  we  not 
the  experience  of  its  reality.  Prayer  stands  on  the  same 
plane.  It  also  is  inconceivable  had  we  not  experienced  its 
reality.  The  apparent  impossibility  of  prayer  is  an  argument 
in  its  favour,  for  man  of  himself  would  never  have  conceived 
the  idea  of  holding  close  converse  with  his  Maker.  An  artil- 
lery officer  said  to  me :  "  From  a  boy,  prayer  always  struck 
me  as  being  a  presumption,  a  piece  of  impudent  effrontery  to 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  131 

address  the  All-wise.  One  day,  when  earth  and  sky  seemed 
mixed  up  in  the  gruelling  we  got  from  the  German  guns,  I 
felt  my  senses  reel  for  the  moment.  I  kept  repeating  '  My 
God,  let  me  keep  my  head  for  my  men's  sake.'  That  prayer 
was  answered  and  the  tangible  result  of  the  prayer  is  the 
D.S.O.  which  1  now  wear,  but  which  I  feel  ought  to  be 
deposited  in  some  church.  However,  when  I  look  at  the  bit 
of  ribbon,  it  reminds  me  of  my  prayer." 

The  cosmic  scheme  is  so  delicately  adjusted  and  appor- 
tioned that  the  smallest  displacement,  even  of  a  particle,  is 
felt  throughout  the  whole  mass.  The  universe  vibrates  to 
every  moment.  H  I  wave  my  hand  there  is  a  difference 
in  the  Cosmos  though  1  may  not  feel  it.  So  in  the  spiritual 
universe  would  it  be  unscientific  to  predicate  the  same  delicate 
spiritual  adjustment  in  which  every  idea  we  conceive,  every 
resolution,  every  motion  of  the  will  sends  a  thrill  through  the 
whole?  Alay  it  not  be  that  when  the  soldier  lying  on  the 
battlefield,  or  the  saint  in  the  cloister,  or  the  humble  wor- 
shipper at  home  breathes  into  space  the  cry  of  his  soul  to 
God,  it  not  merely  reaches  the  Central  Mind  but  moves  the 
whole  spiritual  mass?  We  hear  much  about  the  law  of  nature 
and  of  necessity,  but  what  about  the  law  of  grace? 

If  the  whole  universe  is  ruled  by  absolutely  fixed  laws  it  is 
logically  as  absurd  for  one  to  work  as  to  pray.  A  man  sits  for 
an  examination.  Would  it  be  scientific  to  say :  Whether  you 
pass  or  fail  is  already  pre-ordained,  fixed  by  immutable  laws; 
therefore  whatever  you  do  will  make  no  difference?  Yet  this 
is  the  critical  attitude  assumed  by  many  towards  prayer.  We 
must  distinguish  between  cause  and  condition.  God  has  ap- 
pointed prayer  perhaps  not  so  much  as  an  originating  cause 
but  as  a  condition. 

Our  title  to  prayer  is  as  old  as  the  rule.  This  fact  is  not 
sufficient  in  itself  to  establish  or  account  for  prayer,  but  the 
onus  prohandi  lies  with  the  man  who  denies  its  efficacy.  Sup- 
pose one  of  those  who  object  to  prayer  on  scientific  grounds 
went  into  a  garden  and  told  the  gardener  not  to  interfere  with 
the  plants  and  vegetables,  which  are  obedient  to  rigid  laws! 
Law  is  merely  the  observation  made  on  the  course  followed 
by  any  force  or  energy.  Mr.  Spencer  said  :  "  The  science  of 
the  present  day  refuses  to  be  reconciled  with  religion  if  the 
latter  persist  in  praying  and  striving  to  know  God."  Shallow 
talkers  accepted  this  dogmatic  utterance  as  final.     A  much 


132  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

deeper  thinker,  Francis  Bacon,  wrote :  "  O  Lord,  let  Thy 
holy  angels  pitch  their  tents  about  us  to  guard  and  defend  us 
from  all  perils  of  body  and  soul." 

The  scientific  mind  is  arrested  to-day  and  is  busied  with 
the  strange,  vivid,  magnetic  influences  of  brain  upon  brain, 
heart  upon  heart,  spirit  upon  spirit,  memory  upon  action. 
Men  are  now  reverently  examining  all  the  avenues  by  which 
our  inner  consciousness  is  opened  to  the  soul  of  another.  No 
one  can  detach  himself  from  this  communion.  As  Emerson 
said :  "  Character  teaches  over  our  heads."  Prayer  in  essence 
may  be  the  Divine  sap  within  us  rising  up  to  the  Parent  Stock. 
It  may  be  but  another  illustration  of  the  Law  of  Attraction. 
The  real  fount  of  prayer  is  the  original  fount  of  flame,  and 
the  yearning  experience  finds  itself  in  supplication. 

Christ  bade  His  followers  pray,  but  He  did  not  present  to 
them  the  magic  lamp  of  Aladdin.  A  characteristic  of  the 
Master  was  that  He  never  said  the  obvious  thing  or  told  men 
that  which  went  without  saying.  It  was  useless  to  tell  men  who 
had  faced  the  grim  facts  of  life,  and  who  were  promised  ruder 
shocks  in  the  future,  that  prayer  would  not  save  them  from 
persecution  and  death.  He  did  not  invite  them  to  pray  for 
miracles,  but  He  spoke  of  a  peace  of  soul  and  mind  that  would 
lift  them  above  the  ordinary  rounds  and  worries  of  life.  If 
we  would  learn  how  He  fulfils  this  promise  we  can  do  so,  not 
so  much  in  the  heat  of  argument  as  in  the  school  of  experience 
and  adversity.  Go  to  the  sad,  the  sorrowful,  and  the  sick. 
Hear  the  cheery  word  of  the  comrade,  the  religious  nurse  as 
she  tends  the  soldier-man.  Visit  the  battlefield;  kneel  down 
and  listen  to  what  battered  and  bruised  humanity  has  to  say. 
Look  into  a  stricken  man's  eyes.  Watch  the  look  on  his 
face  when  it  comes  to  dying.  Seek  out  the  bereaved  mother 
and  wife,  and  then  ask  whether  Christ  has  been  slack  in  ful- 
filling His  promise  ? 

One  day  at  sea  we  passed  a  transport  full  of  wounded.  Our 
thoughts  naturally  dwelt  in  pity  upon  that  array  of  wounded 
men,  that  heroism  of  silent  suffering.  We  thought  of  what 
was  once  splendid,  vigorous  manhood,  now  crippled  and  man- 
gled, and  while  we  thought  and  as  we  pitied,  and  our  eyes  grew 
misty,  there  came  across  the  sea  from  the  transport  a  mighty 
shout,  a  stirring  cheer  of  greeting  and  salutation  to  the  white 
ensign.  That  was  the  rousing  reply  of  broken  humanity  to 
our  pity.  Cold,  mechanical  science,  which  merely  scratches 
the  surface  of  things,  is  at  a  loss  to  explain,  or  to  attempt 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  133 

definition  of,  the  iinpnlse  which  raised  that  cheer  and  brought 
grateful  tears  to  the  eyes  of  those  wlio  heard  and  were  thrilled. 
So  with  prayer.  In  sorrow  and  defeat  it  surprises  us  with  its 
power  and  thrills  us  with  its  courage.  Experience  bears  wit- 
ness to  prayer.  Can  we  have  higher  proof?  The  fact  is, 
that  the  fine  self-sacrifice  of  our  men  afioat  and  ashore,  and 
the  splendid  devotion  to  a  great  cause,  are  the  factors  which  are 
enabling  Britain  to  find  her  soul.  We  see  crowded  humanity 
in  all  countries  creeping  back  through  the  blood-mist  to  the 
feet  of  God,  and  that  must  ever  be  accompanied  by  the  exhorta- 
tion "  Let  us  Pray.''  Our  sons  may  lie  battered,  bruised,  dead 
in  the  mud  of  Flanders,  but  it  has  transformed  that  spot  into 
a  Holy  place,  an  altar  where  you  and  I  would  gratefully  kneel 
and  gratefully  ])ray.  This  \Var  is  strengthening  the  impulse 
to  seek  after  God.  With  prayer  on  our  lips  we  face  the 
Eternal  Mystery  which,  in  its  immense  and  awful  silence,  sur- 
rounds and  holds  our  lives  and  one  day  will  still  our  throbbing 
hearts. 

ii.  The  basis  of  reality  is  Mind.  Unless  all  our  methods 
of  ordinary  reasoning  and  scientific  induction  are  false,  the 
essential  unity  of  mental  life  implies  a  Basic  IMind,  a  Founda- 
tion Consciousness,  and  all  individual  minds  subsist  by  their 
relation  to  the  Universal  Mind.  Our  separate  minds  are  the 
leaves  of  the  tree,  fed  from  one  source.  Prayer  is  the  Divine 
sap  within  us.  It  is  an  essential  part  of  the  pulsating  life 
and  active  intelligence.  The  outer  world,  the  Cosmic  scheme, 
become  intelligible  to  us  solely  by  means  of  our  operating 
mentality.  The  struggle  to  know  God,  to  reach  Him  in 
Prayer,  to  please  Him  in  worship  —  these  are  activities  in- 
born; they  are  part  of  normal  healthy  human  nature.  These 
activities  founded  religion.  It  was  not  religion  which  gave 
us  Prayer  but  the  instinct  that  sought  communion  with  God 
was  one  of  the  activities  which  laid  the  foundation  of  religion. 
"  Prayer  is  to  religion  what  thinking  is  to  philosophy :  to 
pray  is  to  make  religion"   (Novalis). 

Christianitv  re-endowed  us  with  pra3^er.  Christ  guided  us 
in  its  use.  The  Gospels  and  Epistles  testify  mainly  to  a  great 
spiritual  impact  upon  the  mentality  and  spirituality  of  the 
disciples.  These  writings  are  a  struggle  to  express  the  full 
force  of  that  impact  which  Christ  made.  By  all  we  know 
of  dynamics  the  impression  they  left  behind  argues  a  corre- 
sponding power  on  the  part  of  Christ  to  give  this  impact. 
We   are   concerned   now   more   with   the   force   beneath   the 


134  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Gospels  than  with  the  events  they  chronicle.  We  get  down 
to  the  bed-rock  power  of  prayer.  The  words  on  Christ's 
lips  were  ever,  "  I  will  pray  the  Father."  Prayer  He  holds 
to  be  the  vitalising  power.  We  know  how  it  sustained  the 
disciples  and  the  early  Church.  Would  there  have  been  any 
Church  or  Christianity  had  it  not  been  for  prayer?  Here 
is  the  testimony  of  experience  on  which  science  so  much  relies. 
It  was  the  dynamic  of  the  early  Church  which  the  personality 
of  Christ  called  into  being.  The  early  Christians  had  a  firm 
grip  of  the  fact  as  to  how  their  personality  was  related  to  the 
Real.  Christianity  is  not  a  record  of  abstract  theories  or  a 
priori  speculations  but  a  body  of  evidence  which  appealed 
directly  and  wrought  conviction.  The  dynamics  of  actual 
impact  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  His  power,  the  actual  im- 
pressions of  minds  coming  in  contact  with  outside  facts,  the 
uplifting  and  upbuilding  force  of  prayer  —  these  were  the 
factors  which  firmly  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

Science  having  now  sounded  the  depth  of  the  sea  and 
wrested  the  secret  of  the  everlasting  hills,  is  entering  the  great 
region  of  the  human  consciousness  and  examining  its  wealth 
of  facts,  experiences,  emotions,  and  intuitions.  The  new  me- 
diator between  religion  and  materialism  is  science. 

The  old  a  priori  scientific  objection  to  prayer  as  being  im- 
possible, so  dear  to  the  heart  of  amateur  philosophers  of 
Victorian  times,  has  had  a  rude  shaking  which  amounts  to  a 
demolition.  The  ordinary  thinking  man  can  pile  up  dozens 
upon  dozens  of  contradictions  and  "  impossibles  "  that  are  yet 
facts.  We  can  prove  that  motion  is  impossible,  and  yet  things 
move.  We  can  argue  a  philosophic  necessity  which  chokes 
initiative  and  silences  prayer,  but  in  spite  of  that  philosophic 
necessity  we  act  on  the  supposition  that  our  wills  are  free. 
Facts  when  pursued  too  far  have  a  habit  of  rising  up  against 
us.  Dogmatic  a  priori  speculations  as  to  what  is  and  what 
is  not  impossible  science  has  given  up.  The  man  who  an- 
nounced that  "  Miracles  are  impossible  "  though  received  with 
applause  in  his  day  would  be  smiled  at  now  by  any  company 
of  men  claiming  to  be  thinkers.  Science  is  freeing  itself  from 
its  chains  and  is  boldly  exploring  man  in  all  his  fulness. 
Modern  Philosophy,  since  Hegel,  has  to  get  back  to  the  Socratic 
idea  that  man  is  the  chief  mode  in  this  sphere  of  the  Divine 
consciousness.  Philosophy  is  thus  teaching  in  its  own  way 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.     It  is  within  the 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  135 

mystery  of  the  human  soul  that  Divinity  finds  its  highest  ex- 
pression. In  that  soul  of  man  is  mirrored  the  Divine.  Man 
is  made  in  the  image  of  God  not  as  a  photograph  but  as  the 
deep  of  the  sea-water  is  a  part  of  the  mighty  ocean. 

Man's  instinct  of  prayer  is  part  of  the  Divine  energy  that 
would  create  vast  Cosmic  schemes.  At  times  in  the  light  of 
setting  suns  we  feel  its  glory.  In  its  exercise  we  may  ask  how 
much  is  mortal  and  how  much  immortal?  From  the  early 
dawn  of  history  man  has  felt  the  right  and  claimed  the  title 
to  appeal  from  the  visible  to  the  invisible.  His  whole  educa- 
tion has  been  developed  by  his  claim  to  operate  forces 
outside  and  inside  himself.  None  of  these  forces  originate 
in  himself.  It  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  thought- force 
begins  in  man.  It  began  first  in  the  Universe  in  the  Supreme 
Mind  which  made  him.  Prayer  is  thought- force;  it  did  not 
begin  in  man  but  in  God.      Nothing  begins  with  man. 

Prayer  is  a  moral  force  of  the  highest  quality  because  it 
calls  into  co-operation  the  other  forces  of  love,  sympathy,  gen- 
erosity, and  chivalry.  These  are  gathered  up  and  focussed  by 
and  through  its  power.  The  result  is  immediately  seen  in  the 
sanctification  of  the  individual,  the  deepening  of  his  worship, 
the  purification  of  his  desires.  Christ  in  His  supreme  agony 
prays  that  the  Cup  of  suffering  may  pass.  He  rises  from 
prayer  with  no  other  desire  save  that  God's  will  be  done.  A 
mother  receives  news  of  her  son's  death  and  enters  the  Gar- 
den of  Gethsemane.  Stricken  by  sorrow  she  is  uplifted  by 
prayer.  She  has  visions  of  her  son  scaling  the  heights,  fight- 
ing in  a  great  cause,  leading  on  brave  spirits.  Rising  from  her 
knees  she  thanks  God  for  an  immortal  memory  of  her  brave 
boy.  There  is  no  record  of  experience  so  wonderful  as  that 
of  prayer.  Whoever  wants  to  study  man  at  his  highest  can- 
not ignore  this  instinct  which  transfigures  and  transcends  him. 

The  co-operation  to-day  of  science  and  faith,  philosophy 
and  anthropology,  in  the  field  of  religious  experience  is  a 
healthy  sign  of  a  desire  for  truth,  rather  than  to  score  points 
in  debate  or  win  a  victory  over  an  antagonist.  Why  should  a 
man  in  search  of  one  aspect  of  knowledge  be  the  enemy  of 
one  who  is  investigating  another?  This  was  the  stupid  blun- 
der of  Victorian  times  among  religionists  and  agnostics. 

A  popular  objection  to  prayer  supposed  to  be  scientific  is, 
Why  ask  God  what  He  already  knows  you  require?  This 
is  not  science  but  ignorance.  It  means  ignoring  the  simplest 
psychological   fact   about  life.     Were  we  silent  because  our 


136  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

needs  are  already  known,  a  bond  of  relationship  would  be  lost 
sight  of;  an  important  spiritual  impulse  and  influence  would 
be  taken  out  of  our  hands ;  a  great  factor  in  our  education 
would  be  useless.  It  is  the  very  life  of  the  soul  which  is 
moulding  us.  Until  the  spirit  leaves  its  clay  prayer  will  do 
the  potter's  work. 

Expression  is  at  once  the  deepest  and  Divinest  necessity 
of  our  nature.  It  is  an  elemental  and  fundamental  law  of  our 
being  without  which  every  soul  would  remain  for  ever  seques- 
tered. It  is  the  primary  activity  of  our  conscious  existence 
and  is  the  origin  of  all  art  and  effort.  Self-projection  is  im- 
perative; to  neglect  it  is  to  kill  an  essential  part  of  our  nature. 
Tie  up  a  limb  effectually  enough  and  it  will  become  useless. 
Nature  results  extreme  individualism  and  favours  the  social 
habit.  True  self -culture  of  any  individual  should  aim  at 
making  him  a  higher  social  unit.  Prayer  will  do  that.  It  is 
the  spirit  that  unifies  the  race.  The  patriot  will,  if  necessary, 
write  his  prayers  with  his  sword.  True  expression  is  the 
healthful  act  of  the  soul.  Without  it  we  lose  our  native  buoy- 
ancy. In  our  struggle  in  competitive  commercialism  we  have 
grown  negligent  of  our  Divinity.  That  subtle  sensitiveness 
which  thrills  to  music  and  the  epic  of  brave  deeds  has  been 
deadened  amid  coarse  surroundings.  The  War  is  burning  up 
the  dross.  Those  very  psychic  sympathies  which  respond  to 
noble  deeds  are  fertilising  men's  souls.  Nature  calls  to  soul 
as  well  as  sense  because  there  is  the  Father-Soul  behind  the 
Cosmic  scheme.  Prayer  is  the  soul's  leap  into  its  joyous 
birthright.  It  would  seem  that  the  desire  of  Nature  is  towards 
expression,  to  become  articulate,  to  speak  fully  the  joy  of 
life  and  adoration  to  the  Supreme  Spirit.  The  sighing  of 
the  trees,  the  murmur  of  the  brook,  the  ground-bass  of  the 
sea,  the  rolling  surge  of  the  ocean,  what  are  they  but  Nature's 
many  tongues  of  expression  joining  in  the  Universal  Anthem? 
The  everlasting  hills  as  they  supplicate  the  skies,  the  waves 
raising  their  tapering  fingers,  the  uplifting  sense  of  the  quiet 
stars,  all  suggest  prayer,  the  aspiration  of  mind.  The  Cosmic 
call  is  "  Oremus." 

iii.  Reverent  prayer  is  the  noblest  and  most  exalted  action 
of  which  man  is  capable.  The  more  deeply  we  penetrate  the 
great  mystery  the  more  sublime  it  becomes,  and  we  witness  to 
the  most  uplifting  act  of  the  human  intelligence  and  the 
human  will.  The  pathway  of  prayer  is  the  highway  to  duty 
and  to  sonship  acceptable  to  God.     While  the  body  is  con- 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  137 

fined  to  earth  the  soul  at  least  can  lind  conimunion  and  fellow- 
ship with  the  Basic  Soul. 

"  Prayer  occupies  so  large  a  space  in  human  experience,  is 
so  vitally  and  essentially  the  \'ery  atmosphere  of  religion,  that 
unless  we  assume  that  our  experience  in  this,  the  highest 
realm,  is  a  mere  dance  of  illusion,  there  must  he  some  great 
reality  in  prayer :  some  deep  ])hilosophy  behind  it :  some  wide 
and  perpetual  use  which  justifies  its  existence.  .  .  .  Has  the 
God  Who  made  us  —  and  He  Himself  we  must  believe,  is  a 
God  of  Truth  —  set  in  the  very  centre  of  our  lives  a  longing, 
an  impulse,  nay  a  passion,  which  is  only  a  lie?  "  -  By  prayer 
we  can  converse  in  a  spirit  of  child-like  love  and  dependence 
with  our  Heavenly  Father.  The  pathway  of  prayer  has  been 
illuminated  by  Christ's  Ascension.  The  Incarnation  bridged 
the  chasm  between  God  and  Man  which  the  latter  had  made. 
Jacob's  ladder  is  the  parable  of  prayer.  It  is  the  heart  of 
worship,  the  dynamic  of  adoration.  In  prayer  the  spirit  is 
humbled  in  the  expression  of  its  wants,  and  filled  with  the 
consciousness  of  its  own  helplessness  in  the  sight  of  the  All 
Holy.  Deep  reverence  is  begotten.  Prayer  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  words  as  an  action  of  the  spirit,  and  words  must 
ever  be  an  imperfect  expression  of  the  Divine.  After  all, 
the  voices  that  reach  God's  ear  are  not  words  but  wants  and 
aspirations.  The  soul  looks  to  our  Father  and  sees  the  truth 
with  a  single  eye.  Prayer  is  the  Marconi-like  apparatus  which 
links  us  with  God's  Kingdom.  Public  prayer  emphasises  the 
solidarity  of  the  race.  It  is  as  if  we  as  one  family  knelt  and 
touched  the  garment  of  God.  We  feel  the  whole  temple 
thrill  with  the  uplift  of  it  all.  It  consecrates  and  realises  our 
belief  in  the  Communion  of  Saints  and  a  mission  of  mutual 
edification. 

The  tongue  is  a  great  offender.  It  should  be  a  great  ex- 
piator.  A  cold  formalism  has  killed  much  that  was  attractive, 
arresting  and  comforting  in  public  prayer  and  worship,  but 
the  cessation  of  public  worship  would  be  a  grievous  loss.  The 
fact  of  it  testifies,  even  to  the  man  who  does  not  attend  it, 
the  duty  of  worship,  the  brotherhood  of  the  race,  and  reminds 
him  that  there  is  something  more  in  life  than  money-making 
and  pleasure-seeking. 

•  In  considering  the  value  of  prayer  to  the  individual  we  have 
to  reckon  with  the  mystic.  A  writer  in  the  last  century  said : 
"  Science   has  made  mysticism   impossible   for  any  educated 

2  Fitchett,  The  Unrealised  Logic  of  Religion. 


138  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

person."  Yet  the  science  for  which  the  writer  stood  is  now 
in  the  himber-room.  The  flat  contradiction  to  his  doctrine  was 
that  deep  thinkers  in  his  day,  as  in  every  age,  were  mystics. 

Most  people,  whether  behevers  or  not,  would  be  surprised 
to  learn  that  the  faith  of  the  mystic  is  more  scientifically 
secure  than  the  convictions,  religious  or  otherwise,  of  most 
men.  Prayer  is  the  sheet-anchor  of  the  mystic.  It  is  his 
food,  his  very  existence;  he  mounts  by  means  of  it  to  those 
lofty  heights  wherein  his  soul  is  at  home.  He  is  sure  of  him- 
self, because  mysticism  is  a  matter  of  experience  and  personal 
contact.  It  alone  is  religion  at  first-hand.  Our  knowledge, 
as  a  rule,  is  second-hand  at  best.  Devout  Christians,  with  no 
mystic  basis  to  their  faith,  have  to  rely  on  second-hand  evidence 
for  their  religion.  This  is  true,  not  only  of  religion  but  of  all 
our  beliefs,  political,  scientific,  and  moral.  We  seek  medical, 
legal,  and  scientific  advice.  We  act  and  think  and  vote  not 
according  to  first-hand  know^ledge  but  in  obedience  to  what  we 
are  told.  The  faith  of  the  average  man  is  based  on  what  he 
is  told. 

The  mystic  is  on  different  ground.  He  attains  to  his  be- 
liefs through  his  own  personal  experience.  He  is  the  man 
whose  life  is  arrested  by  "  the  vision  splendid."  or  by  personal 
touch  with  the  spiritual.  His  soul  has  felt  the  impact  of 
Divine  things.  He  cannot  always  describe  fully  his  vision,  or 
communicate  the  whole  of  it  to  other  people.  After  all,  can 
we  wonder?  He  has  to  fall  back  on  human  language  to 
describe  what  transcends  it  and  lies  beyond  ordinary  existence, 
but  the  value  of  his  experience  lies  in  the  experience  itself. 
He  may  not  be  able  to  reproduce  it  in  language  for  others  to 
understand,  but  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  effect  upon  himself. 
He  is  in  the  position  of  a  man  attempting  to  describe  some 
divine  musical  composition  and  its  effect  upon  his  soul  to  people 
who  only  know  noise.  The  mystic  is  characteristic  of  all 
religions,  and  he  is  the  living  witness  to  the  dynamics  of  prayer. 
To  hear  his  experience  is  to  hear  his  belief :  it  is  enough. 
His  ultimate  self  has  been  convinced.  A  cheap  cynical  phil- 
osophy is  apt  to  deny  the  facts  stated  by  the  mystic  and  then 
to  call  him  irrational  because  he  reasons  from  what  is  denied. 
But  the  mere  denial  of  facts  outside  our  own  personal  expe- 
rience is  not  scientific;  it  is  not  even  clever;  it  is  a  dangerous 
experiment  at  any  time. 

Ordinary  men  are  not  mystics,  but  the  experience  of  such 
cannot  be  set  aside  when  we  scientifically  discuss  prayer  and 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  139 

its  value  to  individual  souls.  We  listen  surely  with  respect 
to  a  man  when  he  tells  us  of  an  experience  which  changed  the 
whole  course  of  his  life.  That  there  have  been  charlatans 
dealing  with  niystici.  in  we  readily  admit.  Is  there  any  de- 
partment of  knowledge  in  which  the  charlatan  is  not? 

Again,  we  believe  in  prayer  because  experience  has  proved 
that  it  is  the  means  of  reaching  a  good  life.  The  soul's  native 
necessities  prompt  a  man  to  prayer  as  his  hunger  prompts 
him  to  eat.  It  is  the  intercourse  between  our  ultimate  self 
and  our  ideal  Liege  Lord.  St.  Patrick,  recalling  his  ten  years' 
slavery,  writes,  in  his  confessions:  "Amid  snow  and  frost  I 
felt  no  ill,  nor  was  there  any  sloth  in  me,  because  the  spirit 
was  burning  within  me." 

Can  the  State  ignore  prayer?  The  pages  of  history  give 
emphatic  answer.  There  must  be  some  central  authority 
which  can  in  various  crises  sum  up  and  focus  the  national 
religious  aspirations.  In  the  gathering  of  the  clouds  of  war, 
disease,  or  calamity  men's  hearts  turn  to  God  as  flowers  to 
the  sun.  I  am  not  arguing  now  the  question  of  Church  and 
State  —  a  Free  Church  versus  an  Established  Church,  but  it 
appears  to  me  that  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  people  there  must 
be  State  recognition  of  religion.  War  demonstrates  that. 
The  ideal,  at  least,  is  the  union  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
power,  so  that  the  Kingdom  of  this  world  may  be  the  King- 
dom of  Christ.  In  the  minds  of  many,  recognition  of  the 
spiritual  element  counts  for  much.  How  can  a  government 
be  the  expression  of  a  nation  if  that  government  fail  the  nation 
in  its  need  ? 

On  this  question  the  old  world  was  unanimous.  Egypt, 
Assyria,  China,  India  were  permeated  with  religious  ideals. 
Is  there  a  tribe  without  its  recognised  religion?  In  ancient 
Greece  it  was  Plato  who  wished  to  punish  atheists  as  dangerous 
to  the  State.  Modern  France  fared  badly  more  than  once 
\>hen  she  officially  banished  religion.  Juvenile  crime  w^ent 
up  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Some  of  our  colonies  have  had  a 
similar  experience.  What  is  good  for  the  individual  cannot  be 
bad  for  the  State.  What  makes  for  man's  true  progress  and 
moral  uplift  must  in  the  end  be  good  for  the  national  welfare. 
Manhood,  the  height  of  its  best  thinking,  the  wav  in  which 
from  time  to  time  it  responds  to  the  demand  for  self-sacrifice, 
are  the  essential  witnesses  to  the  value  of  religion  with  its 
accompaniment  of  prayer.  Many  and  laborious  have  been 
the  efforts  to  account  for  moralitv  without  God.     We  could 


I40  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

quote  writer  after  writer  who  testifies  to  the  fact  that  morality, 
even  common  honesty  and  decency,  give  way  when  deprived  of 
this  sheet-anchor.  Religion  becomes  a  reality  only  in  so  far 
as  it  is  vitalised  by  prayer.  M.  Chas.  Deherme,  writing  of 
France,  says :  "  More  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  great 
Revolution,  after  thirty  years  of  a  Republic  by  turns  Conserva- 
tive, Opportunist,  Radical,  and  Socialist,  we  found  ourselves 
wallowing  in  the  mud  .  .  .  with  prostitution  and  alcohol  for 
our  joys,  the  Press  and  politics  for  our  activities,  with  money 
and  appearance  for  ideal."  The  history  of  non-religious 
movements  for  helping  national  progress  is  not  inspiring. 
What  a  different  picture  does  France  present  during  the  War ! 

The  great  faiths  outside  Christendom  have  nourished  and 
sustained  myriads  of  souls.  Under  conditions  which  make  life 
barely  tolerable  they  have  strengthened,  inspired,  and  made 
heroes,  for  they  have  kept  before  men  their  view  of  the  Pas- 
sion-play of  life,  and  ever  have  appealed  to  man's  higher 
nature.  We  wrong  God  when  we  speak  disrespectfully  of 
these  religions.  We  may  pause  and  compare  results.  The 
great  result  is  plain.  While  Brahminism  with  Buddhism  have 
inspired  and  assisted  men  to  bear  the  burden  of  life,  they 
have  atrophied  initiative  and  left  the  people  in  lethargy. 
Mohammedanism  has  made  wonderful  men,  but  Christianity 
has  moulded  the  dominant  nations  of  the  earth.  Through 
her  teaching  has  womanhood  come  to  her  own.  The  Chris- 
tian races  in  all  that  spells  progress  are  immeasurably  in  front 
of  the  non-Christian.  Christendom  has  its  superstitions, 
cruelties,  errors,  and  tyrannies,  but  Christianity  has  always 
raised  a  vigorous  protest  against  all  these. 

iv.  In  the  East  Prayer  comes  into  everyday  life,  and  it 
comes  with  striking  force  to  the  traveller  from  the  West. 
Daily  prayer-time  is  a  theory  of  all  our  Churches.  There 
are  the  Mattins  and  Evensongs,  "  morning  and  evening  pray- 
ers," but  we  feel  there  is  a  want  of  life  and  reality  about 
them  all. 

In  Egypt  we  wander  in  a  nation's  graveyard,  through 
amazing  vestiges  of  past  eras,  vanished  glory,  outworn  be- 
liefs, but  there  comes  the  call  to  prayer  from  minaret  and 
dome,  to  be  answered  perhaps  by  the  Angelus.  It  is  impossi- 
ble not  to  feel  there  its  energising  presence.  In  the  ruins 
of  stupendous  temples  by  which  men  sought  to  climb  to  suns 
and  stars  to  express  limitless  desire,  you  have  the  wonderful 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  141 

monuments  to  prayer.  Most  of  the  heliefs  have  passed,  but 
men  still  pray.  They  would  think  it  strange  not  to  do  so  at 
certain  hours  of  the  day.  Right  into  the  midst  of  busy  life 
comes  the  cry :  "  Come  to  prayer,  Come  to  prayer.  There 
is  no  God  but  God." 

The  Arab  looks  thoughtfully  at  the  unpraying  Christian, 
as  he  believes  him  to  l)e.  To  the  ordinary  luiglishman  there 
would  be  something  ludicrous  in  stopping  in  the  midst  of 
work  to  pray;  but  the  Arab's  attitude  disdains  concealment, 
and  he  believes  too  deeply  to  care  if  others  smile.  Your  boat- 
man, your  steersman,  your  donkey-boy  spread  their  mat  or 
their  rugs  and  prostrate  themselves  before  God.  The  inner 
flame  is  there.  The  man  may  be  a  fighter  or  a  huckster,  but 
he  prays  consistently  and  sincerely.  Something  like  this  once 
prevailed  in  our  own  country.  There  was  a  time  when  our 
mountains  and  valleys  resounded  with  the  voice  of  prayer  and 
the  calls  to  prayer.  Perhaps  it  was  overdone.  Now,  at  all 
events,  w^e  have  gone  to  the  other  extreme.  There  is  a  feel- 
ing of  shame  in  being  found  at  prayer.  Men  do  not  like  to 
own  to  its  practice.     Soon  it  becomes  an  unreal  thing. 

Western  ideas  could  not  tolerate  stopping  our  serious  busi- 
ness of  life  to  pray.  Fancy  a  call  to  prayer  in  a  commercial 
house  or  "  On  'Change."  Yet  the  feeling  is  gaining  ground 
that  greater  facilities  should  be  given  for  its  observance. 
The  w^elcome  sign  is  found  in  our  open  churches  and  services 
for  business  men.  No  doubt  cant  has  played  an  unpleasant 
part  in  killing  the  hal)it.  The  cult  of  the  Pharisee  is  not  dead. 
In  turn  sooner  or  later  it  poisons  all  religions. 

We  have  discussed  the  power  of  prayer,  its  practical  dy- 
namics: surely  for  our  own  strength  and  moral  uplift  we  must 
w'elcome  more  opportunities.  It  is  worth  the  experiment. 
The  sincerity  of  our  commercial  life  needs  deepening.  And 
what  of  our  political  life? 

We  are  not  ashamed  to  say  good-bye !  adieu !  farewell !  and 
these  are  short  prayers.  We  drink  to  success;  why  not  pray 
for  it?  In  olden  times  there  was  the  libation,  but  it  was  ac- 
companied by  invocation.  British  integrity  in  business  has  an 
old  established  character.  Beneath  rough  exteriors  and  blunt 
talk  there  is  much  sincere  religion.  Cannot  we  be  frank 
about  it?  Unfortunately  there  is  a  patois  of  religion  which 
is  used  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving.  Not  long  ago  a  business 
man  showed  me  a  letter  in  wdiich  the  writer  asked  him  to  do  a 


142  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

dishonest  thing  and  enclosed  two  tracts.  The  sincere  man  is 
afraid  to  show  his  behef,  because  he  may  be  taken  for  a 
canting  hypocrite. 

But  we  cannot  escape  from  ethics.  Commercial  life  and 
every  other  life  rests  ultimately  on  the  spiritual.  Demosthenes 
in  one  of  his  orations  tells  the  Athenians  that  enterprises  are 
safe  only  when  they  have  justice  and  truth  beneath  them. 
What  he  said  all  experience  confirms.  To-day  we  are  face  to 
face  with  grave  trade  controversies :  employer  and  employed 
have  declared  a  truce  for  a  time,  but  the  old  questions  will  be 
opened  after  the  war.  Earnest  men  on  each  side  abound. 
Could  they  not  be  called  together  for  prayer?  What  a  mag- 
nificent object  lesson  it  would  be  to  the  world. 

"  Ninety  per  cent,  of  business  men  are  suffering  from  mental 
pressure,"  so  a  doctor  remarked  to  me  the  other  day.  Neurotic 
maladies  are  dangerously  on  the  increase.  Could  busy  men 
not  remove  the  pressure  for  a  little  time  each  day  and  pray? 
I  know  men  who  have  tried  this  plan.  They  are  few,  but 
their  testimony  to  its  efficacy  is  strong  when  we  can  get  them 
to  speak  out.  In  some  factories  since  war  began,  a  place 
is  set  apart  for  prayer  for  the  women  munition  workers.  The 
breathless  struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged  makes  us  long 
for  the  quiet,  peaceful  few  minutes.  The  girls  who  regularly 
engage  in  prayer  are  easily  discernible.  Everyday  life  is 
sweetened  and  softened  by  it.  Serious  medical  men  are  taking 
the  matter  up.  The  present  pace  of  living  demands  something, 
and  few  know  what  it  is.  The  answer  is  rest  and  prayer. 
Metals  have  their  breaking  strain;  so  have  we.  That  strain 
can  be  lessened  by  prayer,  the  burden  eased.  Let  those  who 
doubt  try  the  experiment. 

The  study  of  soul- forces  is  now  a  recognised  field  of  inves- 
tigation. In  this  new  field  of  study  lies  the  evidence  for  the 
uplift  of  man.  Biology  now  is  concerned  especially  with  the 
study  of  consciousness.  Modern  medicine  after  much  hesi- 
tation has  begun  to  pay  more  attention  to  the  mind.  In  its 
workings  the  student-physician  finds  an  ally,  in  its  power  he 
recognises  the  other  physician.  Strange  it  is  that  mind,  the 
dominant  factor  in  this  organism  —  the  body  —  should  have 
been  so  long  neglected  by  medical  science. 

Thought  is  not  merely  an  indefinite  abstraction.  It  is,  on 
the  contrary,  a  powerful  vital  force.  By  careful  experiment 
we  are  finding  that  through  the  instrumentality  of  our  thought 
we  have  wonderful  control  over  our  bodies  and  the  ills  to  which 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  143 

our  bodies  are  liable.  Medical  science  will  adniil  that  the 
true  healing-  forces  are  within.  No  sooner  does  injury  occur 
to  the  human  frame  than  Nature  gets  to  work  on  the  wound ; 
defence  works  are  thrown  up;  bone  and  tissue  are  built  up; 
and  the  process  of  healing  is  soon  in  full  operation.  Lymph  is 
poured  round  the  broken  bone ;  abscesses  are  sealed  up ;  new 
vascular  channels  are  dug  in  diseased  limbs,  and  a  thousand 
healing  activities  set  in  motion.  We  know  that  a  pessimistic 
doctor  has  a  bad  effect  upon  the  patient,  and  a  depressed  patient 
is  a  distress  to  a  doctor.  A  celebrated  physician,  Ambroise 
Pare,  wrote  on  the  wall  of  an  hospital :    "  I  dressed  the  wound 

—  God  healed  it."  The  mind-attitude  means  so  much.  A 
falling  state  of  mind  means  a  failing  in  health.  The  mind 
is  the  conservator  of  the  body,  lliought  is  for  ever  trying 
to  find  a  medium  of  expression,  to  reproduce  itself.  Sen- 
sual thoughts  produce  the  sensual  face ;  thoughts  of  ghastly 
diseases  leave  their  impress  o!i  the  health  of  a  patient.     Fear 

—  a  thought  —  has  killed  people.  Remedial  science  has  con- 
fined itself  too  long  to  the  action  of  matter  over  mind.  When 
Christ  cured,  He  obtained  the  co-operation  of  the  afflicted. 
Pie  required  mentail  adjustment.  The  old  seer  and  philoso- 
pher was  indulging  in  no  mere  poetical  fancy  when  he  wrote: 
"  My  words  are  life  to  them  that  find  them,  and  health  to  all 
their  flesh." 

I  believe  health  to  be  almost  as  contagious  as  disease.  Note 
the  difference  a  healthy  man  makes  in  a  sick-room.  The 
sickly  doctor  is  never  a  success.  Life- forces  go  bounding 
through  manv  channels,  winged  by  kindly  thoughts,  which  in 
themselves  are  prayers.  The  fatal  error  people  make  is  their 
greater  faith  in  the  power  of  evil  than  in  the  power  of  good. 
This  is  the  cause  of  many  of  our  miseries.  Perverted  thought 
has  its  due  effect  upon  the  person.  We  are  all  so  much  the 
creatures  of  circumstances  that  our  wills  require  strengthening. 
Prayer  will  do  this.  It  is  a  prayer,  too,  that  is  always 
answered.  Human  life  is  as  much  cause  and  effect  as  any- 
thing else  in  this  world.  Prayer  invites  and  calls  to  us  the 
invisible,  healthy,  life-giving  forces  that  strengthen  the  will 
and  beget  fresh  energy. 

There  is  one  kingdom  in  which  every  son  and  daughter 
of  God  can  be  supreme  —  the  kingdom  of  the  mind.  Prayer 
establishes  our  right  and  rule  there.  Disease  invades  that 
kingdom.  It  should  be  met  by  prayer,  which  will  keep  us 
young  in  mind,  for  it  is  of  the  soul,  and  the  soul  knows  no 


144  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

age-limit.  By  some  mysterious  chemistry  thought  becomes 
materiahsed  in  flesh  and  blood.  We  speak  of  the  spiritual 
face.  The  uplift  of  prayer  is  seen  in  the  countenance.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  first  work  of  the  physician  is  to  heal  the 
mind.  Prayer  opens  our  mind  and  body  to  the  realisation 
of  our  relationship,  our  oneness  with  the  Infinite  life,  and  with 
sacramental  worship  links  us  to  that  central  Divinity. 

After  all.  Religion  and  Medicine  are  old  allies.  The  mystic 
medicine  associated  with  the  faith  of  the  Pythagoreans  passed 
to  later  generations  through  Plato  and  Plotinus.  Religion 
was  its  basis  in  the  Hippocratic  tradition  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire. Prayer  and  medicine  joined  hands  in  the  cults  of 
Aesculapius,  Isis,  Serapis,  and  Mithra.  Miraculous  medicine, 
that  is  cure  by  religious  rites,  is  common  to  all  religions. 
The  Regius  Professor  of  Physic  in  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, Sir  Clifford  Allbutt,  writes :  "  As  in  the  lowest  mate- 
rial categories  there  is  an  imperceptible  trace  of  mind-stuff,  so 
in  the  most  spiritual  some  fine  woof  of  the  material  is  inevit- 
ably and  continuously  implied.  Spiritual  gifts  may  or  may  not 
consist  in  the  insertion  of  a  new  entity;  they  certainly  do 
consist  in  a  reanimation  and  remodelling  of  thinking  matter  in 
the  uppermost  strand  of  the  brain,  and  probably  of  some  other, 
perhaps  even  of  all  the  other,  molecular  activities  of  the  body. 
Probably  no  limb,  no  viscus  is  so  far  a  vessel  of  dishonour  as 
to  lie  wholly  outside  the  renewal  of  the  spirit :  and  to  an  infinite 
intelligence  every  accession  of  spiritual  life  would  be  apparent 
in  a  new  harmony  ( avyyvfivaaia)  of  each  and  all  the  meta- 
bolic streams  and  confluences  of  the  body."  Sir  Henry  Morris 
speaks  of  the  "  enforcing  influence  of  an  idea."  In  1843 
Esdaile,  a  Scottish  surgeon,  a  scientist  years  ahead  of  his 
time,  made  use  of  mind-adjustment  in  his  treatment  of  patients, 
and  used  hypnotism  on  a  large  scale  in  India  as  an  anaesthetic 
agent  for  major  operations. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Christian  Church  began  with 
a  mission  to  the  body,  soul,  and  spirit  of  man.  The  healing 
power  of  Christ  was  for  the  whole  man.  This  was  the  apos- 
tolic idea  and  it  never  has  been  wholly  abandoned  by  the 
Church.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  priests  had  care  of 
the  sick,  and  the  ordinary  medical  practice  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  clergy.  "  The  Reformation  changed  all  this,"  writes 
Dr.  Ostler,  "  but  the  fact  remains  that  it  was  the  Church  which 
kept  alive  medicine  as  a  science  and  gave  many  distinguished 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  145 

physicians  to  the  medical  career."  The  following  scientific 
testimony  to  faith,  of  which  prayer  is  the  voice,  may  also  be 
quoted : 

"  Nothing-  in  life  is  more  wonderful  than  faith,  the  one 
great  moxing  force  which  we  can  neither  weigh  in  the  balance 
nor  test  in  the  crucible.  Intangible  as  the  ether,  ineluctable 
as  gravitation,  the  radium  of  the  moral  and  mental  spheres, 
mysterious,  indefinable,  known  only  by  its  effects,  faith  pours 
out  an  unfailing  stream  of  energy  while  abating  nor  jot 
nor  titde  of  its  potency.  .  .  .  Faith  is  indeed  one  of 
the  miracles  of  human  nature  which  science  is  as  ready 
to  accept  as  it  is  to  study  its  marvellous  effects.  When  we 
realise  what  a  vast  asset  it  has  been  in  history,  the  part  which 
it  has  played  in  the  healing  art  seems  insignificant,  and  yet 
there  is  no  department  of  knowledge  more  favourable  to  an 
impartial  study  of  its  effects,  and  this  brings  me  to  my  subject 
—  the  faith  that  heals."  ^ 

Dr.  Hyslop,  the  distinguished  specialist,  speaking  to  medical 
men  at  a  recent  Congress  said :  "As  an  alienist,  and  one  whose 
whole  life  has  been  concerned  with  the  sufferings  of  the  mind, 
I  would  state  that  of  all  the  hygienic  measures  to  counteract 
disturbed  sleep,  depression  of  spirits,  and  all  the  miserable 
sequels  of  a  distressed  mind,  I  would  undoubtedly  give  the 
first  place  to  the  simple  habit  of  prayer." 

Many  theories  are  in  the  melting-pot  to-day;  prayer  as  a 
healing  force  rests  firmly  on  the  rocks  of  faith  and  practice. 

v.  The  darker  the  cloud  the  deeper  is  the  sense  of  religion, 
and  times  of  distress,  national  danger,  and  war  immediately 
evoke  from  people  the  cry  for  closer,  deeper  communion  with 
God.  As  the  darkness  deepens  w^e  discover  God  under  the 
very  cloud  of  night.  The  Church  is  called  upon  to  focus  the 
emotions  of  the  people  and  to  express  them.  Here,  then,  is 
experience  testifying  to  the  value  and  the  comfort  of  com- 
munion with  God.  When  men  assemljle  for  prayer  on  some 
bullet-bitten  plain  within  range  and  hearing  of  the  enemy's 
guns,  or  in  some  quiet  shrine  of  faith,  they  feel  after  the 
Divine  Presence  with  a  reality  of  yearning  and  a  depth  of 
conviction  rare  indeed  in  times  of  peace.  We  kneel  with 
one  thought  and  that  is  to  get  near  God  and  express  our 
full  heart ;  we  reach  out  hands  to  Christ  and  we  feel  ourselves 
caught    up    in    the   breathless    struggle.     "  Principalities    and 

S  British  Medical  Journal,   June    18,1910. 


146  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Powers  muster  their  unseen  array."  Powers  and  dominions 
rock  with  the  shock  of  battle,  but  there  steadfast  is  the  throne 
of  God.  • 

In  the  House  of  Commons  any  question  of  God,  religion, 
or  prayer  used  to  be  received  with  impatience,  and  was  treated 
by  the  crowd  as  something  beneath  serious  attention.  It  is 
not  so  now'.  Cabinet  Ministers  and  ordinary  members  invoke 
the  name  of  God  quite  naturally  in  their  speeches. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  men  said  faith  in  a  personal 
Providence  would  be  destroyed.  Some  of  our  religious 
leaders  re-echoed  this  sentiment.  Christianity  was  upon  its 
defence  again.  Events  soon  proved  that  there  was  no  need 
to  brief  counsel  on  its  behalf.  While  shells  shrieked  and 
machine-guns  ground  out  their  message  of  death;  while  every- 
thing that  was  devilish  and  heartless  worked  through  machinery 
to  tear  living  men  to  pieces,  the  work  of  the  Spirit  was  soon 
seen.  W^ith  the  foundations  of  society  breaking  up,  men's 
minds  turned  to  the  Eternal  Hope  and  found  it  still  an  anchor. 
In  the  orgy  of  insane  disorder  the  peace  of  God  was  found 
to  be  a  real  thing. 

"  Padre,  I'll  tell  you  something.  I  found  myself  praying 
the  other  night  as  I  lay  wounded,  and  I  had  not  said  my 
prayers  since  I  left  Eton."  He  was  a  splendid  specimen  of 
manhood,  an  artillery  officer  wounded  in  the  retreat  from 
Mons.  Plis  remarks  opened  the  flood-gates,  and  we  talked. 
"  The  curious  thing  is  the  way  our  chaps  curse  and  pray,"  he 
Vx'ent  on,  "  and  do  you  notice  how  our  men  crowd  into  the 
churches  here  for  prayer?" 

One  thing  which  struck  me  in  Northern  France  was  the 
way  in  which  British  and  French  soldiers  and  civilians  jostled 
each  other  to  get  into  the  churches. 

On  the  battlefield,  as  in  no  other  place,  there  is  the  call  of 
soul  to  soul,  of  heart  to  heart,  intensified  by  all  the  powers 
of  emotion  which  duty  calls  forth.  Quickened  by  the  re-birth 
of  the  religious  sense,  the  man  in  khaki  stares  more  fixedly 
into  the  dim  future.  The  greater  the  gloom,  the  more  earnest 
his  search  for  the  gleam.  And  often  it  is  vouchsafed.  You 
find  your  mystics  in  khaki  on  the  battlefield.  The  stories  of 
psychical  experience,  whether  true  or  not,  would  show  that 
mind  is  calling  to  mind,  heart  to  heart.  On  the  strength  of 
such  belief,  men  with  little  or  no  religious  training  venture 
to  pray,  and  the  experience  of  comfort,  strength,  refreshment, 
and  peace  encourages  them  to  persevere,     Tom  from  home, 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  147 

with  the  heart-strings  lacerated,  rough  men,  I  found,  were  tak- 
ing to  prayer  for  their  loved  ones. 

"I  just  pray  that  1  may  see  my  bairnies  again.  Ye  see 
they  have  no  mither.''  He  was  a  long-service  Highlander, 
badly  hit  with  shrapnel,  and  not  expected  to  live.  "  i  hope 
God  will  hear  me  for  I  have  not  asked  anything  of  Him  for 
years.  I  have  tried  to  do  my  duty  but  now  1  lind  1  must  ask 
God  this  favour."  He  recovered  sufficiently  to  be  sent  back 
home.  The  bullets  play  strange  dirges  on  the  strings  of  life 
before  they  break  them,  and  the  music  has  a  message  of  hope, 
and  in  it  men  fancy  they  detect  the  Divine  voice. 

At  home,  the  national  danger  has  driven  men  and  women 
to  prayer.  Their  own  anxieties  have  forced  others,  and  sucli 
people  have  discovered  by  experience  what  no  books  can  teach 
and  what  the  Church  has  failed  to  bring  home  to  them  —  the 
solace,  the  light,  and  the  wider  vision. 

W'e  witness  a  recovery  of  the  value  of  prayer.  The  agnos- 
tic to-day  and  the  sceptic  are  not  listened  to.  Prayer-time  in 
the  House  of  Commons  is  now  something  more  than  a  form; 
it  is  a  reality.  Members  no  longer  assume  the  bored  expres- 
sion. Grave  news  from  abroad  means  a  bigger  attendance 
at  this  religious  observance.  Politicians  who  had  decided  to 
do  away  with  an  "  obsolete  practice  "  when  the  late  chaplain 
died  and  it  had  been  arranged  to  let  the  office  fall  into  abeyance, 
acquiesced  in  the  new  appointment  and  the  continuance  of 
the  ancient  custom.  National  peril  has  rekindled  faith  and 
given  life  to  prayer.  Parents  kneel  in  prayer  with  thoughts 
of  their  Ijoys'  safety  in  their  hearts.  The  practice  begins  in 
the  experience  of  hard-pressed  souls,  and  is  continued  because 
such  communion  bridges  in  a  way  the  great  gulf  that  separates. 
Prayer  for  the  boy  leads  to  prayer  for  other  lads,  and  for 
those  stricken  with  the  same  sense  of  loss.  This  is  an  effort 
towards  the  cementing  and  consolidation  of  the  "  Kingdom  " 
which  has  various  names  but  the  same  outlines  and  the  same 
foundations.  "  The  nation,"  writes  Burke,  "  is  indeed  a  part- 
nership, but  a  partnership  not  only  between  those  who  are 
living  but  those  who  are  dead  and  those  who  are  yet  to  be 
born." 

Prayer  brings  a  vision  of  the  City  of  God,  the  eternal  King- 
dom beyond  the  range  of  guns,  and  the  mother's  eyes  are 
taken  from  the  lad  weltering  in  the  mire  and  blood  of  the 
battlefield  to  that  same  boy  welcomed  in  Heaven  by  Him 
Whose  smile  was  ever  a  benediction. 


148  THE  POWER  OE  PRAYER 

vi.  From  what  we  have  said  in  previous  sections,  if  prayer 
be  a  force,  an  uplifting  and  purifying  power,  its  practice, 
applied  to  the  national  ideals  and  the  world's  progress,  must 
be  beneficial  to  the  whole  race.  Greece  and  Rome  remained 
great  so  long  as  their  ideals  were  lofty.  Ideals  are  real  so 
long  as  they  are  sustained  by  that  Divine  energy  within,  which 
seeks  to  express  itself  in  prayer  and  adoration.  There  is 
something  in  normal  man  that  impels  him  to  yield  to  the  spell 
of  loveliness  whether  in  form  or  thought;  some  faculty  within 
man  enables  him  to  conceive  of  beauty  beyond  the  body  and  to 
be  conscious  of  an  affinity  with  something  that  transcends  him- 
self. There  is  within  us,  active  or  latent,  the  desire  for  per- 
fection. This  is  fed  and  stirred  to  renewed  effort  by  prayer 
and  the  contemplation  of  the  beautiful.  No  part  of  human- 
ity is  so  poor  that  it  cannot  be  cultivated  to  bear  fruit.  The 
men  who  have  done  great  things  are  those  with  faith  in 
their  own  endowment  of  divinity.  Side  by  side  with  this, 
and  underlying  it,  is  the  Divine  Will  that  man  should 
truly  live. 

The  industrial  life  of  a  nation,  the  healthy  commercial 
vigour  of  a  people,  evoke  fine  virtues.  Justice,  honesty,  truth, 
fairness,  honour  are  as  much  articles  of  the  higher  commer- 
cial code  as  of  the  Holy  Gospels.  We  know  men  in  business 
who  idealise  their  own  personal  honour,  but  would  smile  at 
the  mention  of  prayer  in  relation  to  it. 

Active  virtues  spring  from  the  same  soil  as  active  vices,  and 
what  we  call  vices  are  the  overflow  of  irregular  activity;  but 
in  a  stirring,  working,  energising,  industrial  community  there 
is,  running  strong  and  deep,  a  moral  health  which  makes  for 
goodness.  The  devotees  of  Mammon  have  a  ritual  and  a 
religion.  We  must  not  indict  a  civilisation  that  has  for  its 
object  the  conquest  of  material  things  prompted  by  personal 
gain.  There  are  ministers  in  the  Temple  of  Mammon  who 
compare  favourably  with  ministers  in  the  Christian  Church. 
Mammon  is  not  necessarily  opposed  to  Righteousness,  and  by 
Mammon  I  mean  the  organisation  of  industry.  "  Ye  cannot 
serve  God  and  Mammon ;  "  but  a  healthy  man  must  energise. 
Work  is  the  law  of  life.  Yet  what  the  Gospel  means  is  this, 
that  no  man  can  serve  two  rival  masters  who  demand  sets  of 
duties  opposed  to  each  other.  The  danger  in  Mammon  is 
that  he  is  a  jealous  god,  and  his  devotees  often  become  utterly 
absorbed  in  the  pleasure  of  acquisition.  This  lowers  the 
national  ideal.     The  material  progress  of  the  world  may  be 


A  CHAPLAIN'S  THOUGHTS  149 

increased,  but  it  is  at  the  cost  of  much  that  makes  a  country 
great. 

War  is  the  price  we  pay  for  the  evils  generated  in  time  of 
peace.  Nothing  is  more  emphatic  in  the  world's  pages  of 
history  than  this.  The  Church  must  boldly  enter  the  Temple 
of  Mammon.  She  enters  bravely  enough  to  beg  subscriptions. 
Without  cant  let  the  Church  give  her  blessing  to  what  is  good 
in  this  temple  and  point  out  how  much  we  have  in  common. 
Cyclops  forged  iron  for  Vulcan,  and  I'ericles  forged  thought 
for  Greece.  It  is  a  jx'irable.  Each  has  his  department.  In 
the  long  run  lofty  ideals  are  stronger  than  battleships.  One 
forges  for  eternal  things,  the  other  for  temporal.  Let  both 
be  wrought,  but  do  not  let  us  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
the  temporal  must  yield  to  the  eternal. 

In  this  breathless  struggle  Germany  is  actuated  by  a  religion 
of  force.  Some  have  explained  that  she  no  longer  recognises 
Christian  standards.  She  is  seeking  to  undo  ?11  the  work  of 
civilisation  that  has  raised  men  from  savagery.  The  gospel 
of  '*  frightfulness  "  makes  men  devils,  and  Germany  is  quite 
frank  about  the  fact. 

It  has  been  truly  said,  and  sneeringly  said,  that  in  every  war 
both  sides  appeal  to  the  same  God.  Why  not?  What  argu- 
ment is  this  against  prayer?  Two  contending  parties  go  be- 
fore the  same  judge  in  ordinary  law  cases.  Germany  and 
ourselves  now  go  before  the  same  Judge.  We  are  praying  to 
the  same  God.  It  is  natural  in  ordinary  life.  What  matters 
is  the  case,  the  indictment,  and  the  counts  in  that  indictment. 

Ours  is  an  age  of  pragmatism.  We  are  seeking  to  solve 
our  many  problems  by  the  test  of  results.  Men  watch  systems 
and  after  a  time  weigh  results.  Unfortunately  many  of  our 
economists  have  only  one  registering  machine :  that  is,  a  cash- 
register.  The  results  must  be  represented  in  £.  s.  d.  A 
more  important  question  is  the  development  of  man,  his  happi- 
ness, and  the  future  of  the  race.  Pragmatism  has  become  too 
much  the  cultivation  of  th^  dollar. 

Let  philosophic  pragmatism  test  prayer  by  its  own  rules. 
Can  the  national  life  be  raised,  its  measure  of  happiness  en- 
larged, its  capacity  for  the  beautiful  deepened,  its  conception  of 
ideals  quickened  without  religion?  Can  the  national  leaders 
ienore  the  invisible  spiritual  influences?  Can  they  set  aside 
the  consecration  of  purpose  which  only  religion  can  give? 
Histor}^  shows  they  can  do  so  only  at  their  peril.  We  can 
appeal  to  the  results  of  prayer. 


I50  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

In  this  country  for  some  years  there  has  been  a  process  at 
work  for  superseding  God.  It  is  an  old  trick  which  invaria- 
bly brings  disaster.  "  God  is  an  hypothesis  we  are  ehminat- 
ing,"  says  one  writer,  France  once  attempted  to  found  a 
morahty  without  God,  yet  it  was  Voltaire,  a  Frenchman,  who 
said,  "  If  God  did  not  exist  we  should  have  to  invent  Him." 
War  is  deepening  our  national  ideals  just  because  it  is  deep- 
ening thought.  The  vision  of  our  rulers  so  long  has  been 
bounded  by  the  ballot-box,  and  the  voters  have  looked  to 
it  for  their  meat  in  due  season.  They  have  had  to  think  out 
how  the  existence  of  the  nation  can  be  secured  and  lifted  from 
strength  to  strength.  Ideals  and  religion  are  once  more  com- 
ing into  their  own. 

My  work  at  present  is  at  a  big  naval  base.  I  find  men  who 
pray  regularly  for  their  officers,  and  I  talk  to  officers  who 
frankly  tell  me  they  pray  for  their  men.  These  men  are  not 
dreamers,  no  mere  visionaries,  but  the  kind  whose  monument 
Avill  be  an  inviolate  Britain.  They  do  not  talk  of  prayer  being 
answered ;  it  is  sufficient  to  them  that  they  feel  acquired 
strength  and  inspiration  to  "  carry  on."  I  was  with  our 
soldiers  in  France  throughout  that  dark  tragedy  and  splendid 
triumph,  the  retreat  from  Mons,  when  a  colonel  said  to  me : 
"  My  views  of  the  after-life,  my  certainty  of  hope  in  the  life 
to  come,  get  paralysed  if  I  do  not  pray  regularly." 

The  expression  "  the  world's  progress  "  has  been  used  in  too 
conventional  and  narrow  a  measure.  We  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  register  national  progress  by  commercial  prosperity. 
Let  us  hope  that  time  is  past.  If  so,  it  will  be  our  great 
victory.  The  supreme  concern  is  the  moral  uplift  and  health, 
the  inner  life  of  the  people,  the  establishment  of  righteousness. 
There  must  be  real  facts  and  factors  to  meet  the  new  order 
in  front  of  us  in  the  conflict  of  labour  and  capital.  When  we 
take  progress  in  its  full  catholic  sense  the  place  of  prayer  be- 
comes clear  and  distinct.  After  all  it  is  a  question  not  only  of 
fact  but  of  courage.  We  must  find  more  means  of  expression 
of  the  thoughts  within  us,  just  those  thoughts  by  which  men 
in  all  ages  have  tried  to  climb  to  suns  and  stars.  The  cry 
of  the  world,  the  cry  of  the  heart  of  man,  must  ever  be  "  Let 
us  pray." 


VI 
A  MODERN  APOLOGY 

TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH 
BY 

CHARLES  AUGUSTE  BOURQUIN 

PASTEUR,    ST.    CERGUES,    S/NYON,    VAUD,    SWITZERLAND 


VI 
A  MODERN  APOLOGY 

Ce  qu'il  faiit  pour  vivre :  un  mobile  et  iin  secours,  la  foi  et  la  priere. 

The  present  epoch  has  not  been  propitious  for  prayer.  Be- 
fore the  war  experimental  science  was  in  great  vogue,  and 
inventions  were  being  made  in  every  branch  of  human  activity. 
We  need  mention  only  the  discovery  of  electric  light  and 
traction,  wireless  telegraphy,  and  the  Rontgen  rays.  Medi- 
cine invented  artirabic  and  antidiphtheric  serums,  which  cure 
diseases  once  regarded  as  fatal.  It  was  also  a  time  of  great 
enterprise  and  vast  industrial  exploitations.  Mountains  like 
the  St.  Gothard  and  the  Simplon  have  been  tunnelled.  The 
war,  however,  roughly  disturbed  the  tranquillity  of  life,  and 
industrial  and  business  occupations  had  to  give  place  to  martial 
preparations  and  arms.  Then  came  the  profound  sorrow  and 
heartrending  mourning  for  those  who  would  never  return. 
The  peoples  began  again  to  pray.  As  they  reflected  on  the 
dangers  that  threatened  those  dear  to  them,  mothers  called 
upon  God  to  protect  their  sons ;  wives  interceded  for  their 
husbands.  Prayer  once  more  holds  an  honourable  j^lace  as  a 
source  of  consolation  in  family  trials.  In  these  tragic  times. 
accordingly,  he  is  a  benefactor  who  can  witness  to  the  beauty 
and  might  of  prayer,  and  help  to  further  its  development  in 
the  human  soul. 

We  have  dealt  with  our  task  along  scientific  lines,  though 
care  has  been  taken  to  make  this  essay  so  clear  and  unambig- 
uous as  to  be  generally  understood.  Rather  than  choose  in- 
stances not  hitherto  known,  and  more  or  less  doubtful,  we  have 
brought  forward  facts  capable  of  being  readily  verified. 

I.  The  Importance  of  Prayer 

Does  prayer  possess  any  importance?  Could  we  not  dis- 
pense with  it?  There  are  men  who  do  not  see  its  value  and 
who  never  pray.     Rousseau  makes  the  Savoyard  vicar  say: 

153 


154  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

"  I  worship  the  supreme  Being,  but  I  do  not  pray.  What 
should  I  ask  of  Him  ?  That  He  should  change  the  course  of 
events  on  my  account,  perform  a  miracle  on  my  behalf?  So 
rash  a  desire  would  deserve  to  be  punished  rather  than  to  be 
granted."  The  Orientals  are  constitutionally  inclined  to 
prayer  and  contemplation.  The  Mussulman  daily  spends 
hours  in  prayer,  assuming  various  attitudes  and  repeating  the 
same  formula.  The  Occidentals,  less  mystical  and  more  prac- 
tical, have  little  taste  for  such  practices. 

Many  are  the  prejudices  against  prayer,  and  to  these  we 
first  advert. 

i.  Lahorare  est  orare,  we  are  told  — "  He  who  works  prays." 
We  agree  that  work  is  an  imperious  necessity  for  the  vast 
majority  of  men.  Its  moral  results,  moreover,  are  undeniable. 
Work  is  a  preventive  against  temptation,  and  it  often  provides 
temporary  consolation  in  grief  and  sorrow.  But  it  does  not 
follow  that  work  can  take  the  place  of  prayer.  There  are 
circumstances  in  which  a  man  is  incapable  of  making  the  slight- 
est effort  and  in  which  prayer  will  strengthen  his  soul-energy 
and  supply  him  with  what  he  lacks.  Whereas  work  may  leave 
a  man  weak,  and  irritated  and  helpless  in  the  presence  of  sin 
and  suffering,  prayer  strengthens  the  will  and  supports  it 
with  calm  and  courage.  Work  and  prayer  are  alike  beneficent ; 
they  complanent  —  and  in  no  way  exclude  —  each  other. 

ii.  Guyau,  a  French  writer,  attempting  to  establish  the 
religion  of  the  future,  would  like  to  substitute  meditation  for 
prayer.  "  The  loftiest  mode  of  prayer,"  he  says,  "  is 
thought."  Instead  of  manual  work,  we  are  offered  intellectual 
effort  as  an  exercise  that  will  exempt  us  from  bowing  in  prayer 
before  God.  But  this  opinion  is  equally,  superficial ;  thought 
is  not  a  substitute  for  prayer.  It  is  a  c|uite  different  activity. 
Thought  is  indispensable  in  prayer,  but  the  effort  of  the  reas- 
oning mind  may  have  nothing  to  do  with  God.  Prayer  is  not 
simple  meditation ;  it  is  converse  with  a  Person  believed  to 
be  present,  though  invisible.  In  no  way  can  meditation  take 
the  place  of  prayer. 

iii.  Another  reason  which  is  given  for  regarding  prayer  as 
needless  is  the  constant  operation  of  Divine  Providence.  God, 
it  is  said,  is  good  enough  to  give  us  the  things  indispensable  for 
existence  without  our  asking  for  them.  Instead  of  waiting  for 
man  to  make  his  request,  He  has  anticipated  it.  Has  He  not 
already  granted  the  prayer  of  the  sick  who  long  to  be  healed, 
by  scattering  throughout  nature  remedies  and  antidotes? 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  155 

Jesus  spoke  of  this  aspect  of  Divine  Providence.  "  Your 
heavenly  Father,"  He  said,  "  knows  what  ye  have  need  of  be- 
fore ye  ask  him."  But  He  was  far  from  giving  this  as  a 
reason  for  discontinuing  prayer.  He  continually  exhorted 
His  disciples  to  pray ;  and  gave  them  a  model  in  the  form  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  The  real  point  of  the  reminder  that  God 
knows  what  we  need,  as  we  see  from  the  context,  is  that  it 
suggests  to  us  the  importance  of  being  brief  in  our  petitions. 

The  objection,  based  on  the  fact  that  God  knows  our  needs 
without  our  prayers,  is  dissipated  when  we  come  down  from 
the  heights  of  theory  to  practical  life.  A  mother  is  not  igno- 
rant of  the  needs  of  her  child;  none  the  less,  the  child  makes  its 
insistent  demands,  which  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to 
silence.  God  is  willing  to  help  me  in  my  distress  and  be- 
reavement. Such  a  thought,  instead  of  checking  me,  ought 
to  drive  me  to  appeal  to  Him  all  the  more.  With  how  much 
greater  eagerness  shall  I  approach  a  God  Who  is  compas- 
sionate and  ready  to  help,  than  a  harsh  and  niggardly  Master 
who  reaps  where  he  has  not  sown,  and  gathers  where  he  has 
not  strawed.  Divine  foresight  is  thus  an  encouragement  to 
prayer. 

iv.  A  final  argument  against  the  importance  of  prayer  is 
founded  on  the  instances  of  unanswered  petition.  "  We  have 
prayed,"  it  is  said,  "  in  the  most  difficult  circumstances,  and 
for  the  most  legitimate  objects,  and  yet  we  have  received 
nothing;  we  have  appealed  to  God  in  fervent  faith,  but  He 
has  vouchsafed  us  no  answer.  What  is  the  use  of  prayer  if 
God  either  does  not  hear  or  will  not  answer?  " 

It  must  be  admitted  that  many  prayers  remain  unanswered. 
God  does  not  always  grant  us  what  we  desire.  We  may  pray 
most  earnestly,  and  ask  for  the  most  excellent  things,  and  yet 
go  empty  away.     Are  we  thereby  confounded? 

The  truth  is  that  prayers  which  are  not  granted  ought  to 
teach  us  to  pray  better  —  to  be  more  careful  in  our  requests. 
A  father  does  not  satisfy  all  the  demands  of  his  children:  is 
he  less  a  father  on  that  account?  It  is  presumption  on  the 
part  of  the  purblind  man  to  insist  on  imposing  his  will  on  Prov- 
idence. The  granting  of  prayer  frequently  comes  about  with- 
out our  beine:  aware  of  the  fact.  God  always  hears  us;  we 
never  leave  Him  with  empty  hands,  though  sometimes  His 
answers  differ  widely  from  our  expectations.  Further,  we 
ought  not  to  forget  the  requests  which  have  been  granted.  The 
man  who  refuses  to  pray  resembles  a  patient  who  refuses  to 


156  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

be  operated  upon  by  the  surgeon  on  the  ground  that  operations 
are  not  invariably  successful  and  are  sometimes  fatal. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  now  as  in  the  past.  Civilisation 
has  increased  man's  power  and  given  him  greater  comfort,  but 
it  has  not  brought  him  happiness.  He  is  feeble  and  apt  to 
succumb  in  presence  of  the  evils  of  life.  To  crush  out  prayer 
from  the  human  soul,  the  very  conditions  of  existence  would 
have  to  be  changed.  So  long  as  man  has  to  weep  and  suffer, 
so  long  will  he  seek  for  support  in  God,  Who  alone  can  help 
him.  It  is  the  educative  role  of  trial  and  suffering  that  they 
bring  us  back  to  God.  When  man  discovers  so  much  that  is 
false,  inadequate,  and  transient  in  existence,  he  aspires  after 
the  Being  Who  is  true  and  permanent.  Turning  from  his  fel- 
lowmen,  who  have  either  not  understood  or  have  deceived 
him  in  his  expectations,  he  determines  to  address  himself  to 
God. 

n.  The  Objects  of  Prayer 

We  may  ask  of  God  whatsoever  we  regard  as  good.  Jesus 
recognises  no  limits  to  prayer :  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask 
in  my  name  ye  shall  receive."  Nothing  that  concerns  us  is 
indifferent  to  Him  ;  consequently  we  may  ask  both  for  material 
and  for  spiritual  blessings. 

Our  physical  needs  are  the  most  imperious ;  although  in- 
ferior, they  are  the  first  to  demand  satisfaction  and  will  brook 
no  delay.  So  long  as  they  remain  unsatisfied,  the  individual 
is  not  his  own  master.  There  is  a  close  relation  between  body 
and  soul ;  at  a  certain  stage  of  privation  and  misery  reflection 
and  calm  are  impossible. 

Some  theologians  will  not  admit  that  we  should  ask  God  for 
material  things,  but  is  it  natural  to  hide  from  God  any  part 
of  our  cares  and  griefs?  Whenever  I  suffer,  I  feel  the  need 
of  heavenly  help.  Christ  did  not  fear  to  ask  for  temporal 
blessings ;  He  knew  the  urgency  of  our  bodily  wants,  and  in 
His  prayer  He  taught  us  to  ask  for  our  daily  bread,  i.e.  for  all 
that  life  demands.  Daily  bread  is  not  only  the  food  that 
nourishes ;  it  is  also  the  clothing  that  covers  us,  the  house  that 
shelters  us,  the  fire  that  glows  on  the  hearth  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  even  the  work  that  supplies  us  with  the  needed  pro- 
vision. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  speaks  of  deliverance  from  evil,  and  this 
includes  physical  evil  or  infirmity  as  well  as  moral  evil  or  sin. 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  157 

By  means  of  prayer,  Divine  suggestion  is  conveyed  to  the  souls 
desirous  of  serving  Him,  and  He  makes  use  of  human  soHdar- 
ity  in  order  to  succour  the  unhappy.  Those  who  regard  pray- 
ers against  physical  evil  as  derogatory  to  the  Divine  majesty 
seldom  know  at  first-hand  the  painful  conditions  of  the  human 
lot.  "  To  wish  to  limit  a  human  ])etition  to  that  which  con- 
cerns the  soul  and  eternity."  said  a  Christian,  "  would  be  to  in- 
troduce a  limit  recognised  neither  by  Christ  nor  by  the 
apostles." 

Still,  external  cares  and  physical  necessities,  however  ab- 
sorbing, do  not  constitute  the  whole  of  life.  It  is  as  erroneous 
to  limit  the  destiny  of  the  individual  to  the  earth  as  to  shut 
him  up  in  a  monastery  for  the  purpose  of  ensuring  his  eternal 
salvation.  Material  boons  are  but  fleeting  and  ought  not  to 
absorb  the  whole  of  prayer.  There  are  other  blessings  which 
Jesus  puts  in  the  first  place.  Spiritual  wants  are  as  urgent  as 
hunger  or  thirst ;  the  man  who  experiences  them  feels  a  pang 
which  is  quite  as  keen  as  physical  suffering.  H  unsatisfied 
they  may  engender  despair  and  lead  to  suicide.  After  his  be- 
trayal of  Christ,  Judas,  unable  to  escape  from  the  agony  of 
remorse,  went  away  and  hanged  himself.  Man  cannot  live 
without  the  higher  gifts  of  God.  The  human  existence  most 
amply  provided  with  temporal  goods  is  a  catastrophe  if  it  dis- 
regards spiritual  realities.  The  life  of  the  soul  destined  to 
continue  beyond  the  sphere  of  earth  is  more  important  than 
the  health  of  the  body. 

The  sinner  needs  pardon  and  salvation.  By  our  misdeeds 
we  not  only  harm  our  neighbour  but  we  offend  our  Heavenly 
Father,  by  transgressing  His  holy  laws.  How  are  we  to  obtain 
this  pardon  except  through  prayer?  When  oppressed  by  the 
memory  of  our  offences,  prayer  restores  us  to  peace  with 
God.  After  praying  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  where  he 
implored  God  to  have  mercy  on  him,  the  publican,  we  are  told, 
went  home  justified.  Mme.  de  Krudener,  known  in  all  the 
Courts  of  Europe,  when  writing  of  her  conversion  to  a  friend, 
said :  "  Pray,  pray  like  a  child ;  demand  that  grace  Divine  which 
God  grants  for  His  Son's  sake,  and  you  will  receive  it.'' 

In  prayer,  also,  man  finds  a  cure  for  his  unrest.  The  per- 
sons and  the  things  about  us  afford  pleasure  and  enjoyment  in 
greater  or  less  degree;  but  our  satisfaction  is  transient,  and  the 
final  result  is  often  disillusionment  and  complaint.  Everything 
on  earth  is  frail  and  liable  to  decay;  perfect  content  and  true 
joy  come  from  above  and  can  be  obtained  by  prayer  alone.     It 


158  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

was  because  St.  Paul  prayed  frequently  that  he  said :  "  I  have 
learned  in  whatsoever  state  I  am  therewith  to  be  content." 

Prayer  affords  us  immortal  hope.  The  child's  first  cry  is 
one  of  pain,  and  the  allotted  span  is  full  of  labour  and  sorrow. 
What  is  man  to  do  ?  Philosophy  is  ineffectual  before  tears  and 
suffering.  The  Stoic  of  Greece  and  Rome  recommended  sui- 
cide in  extremity ;  the  wise  man  makes  his  exit  from  the  world 
as  he  does  from  the  stage.  The  Christian  bows  in  prayer  at 
once  submissive  and  hopeful,  for  he  sees  the  path  of  eternal 
life  shining  before  him. 

III.  The  Reality  of  Prayer 

There  are  realities  of  a  physical  order,  such  as  hunger  and 
thirst ;  and  when  an  individual  experiences  these  necessities,  he 
is  obliged  to  satisfy  them. 

There  are  also  moral  realities,  such  as  the  need  of  justice, 
sympathy,  and  affection.  Prayer  is  an  interior  reality;  no 
sooner  is  the  desire  to  pray  aroused  in  man  than  it  must  find 
expression.  As  Pascal  says :  "  The  heart  has  its  own  reasons 
of  which  reason  knows  nothing." 

Prayer  resembles  instinct.  When  a  child  stumbles  he  cries 
aloud  for  his  mother  to  come  to  his  help.  When  man  feels 
powerless  and  wretched  he  involuntarily  seeks  for  help;  if  he 
cannot  lean  upon  God,  he  has  recourse  to  a  confessor  of  some 
kind.  A  child  is  taught  the  pious  repetition  of  words,  but  it 
is  no  more  necessary  to  teach  him  to  pray  than  to  teach  him  to 
eat  or  drink.  Prayer  is  as  natural  to  man  as  speaking  or 
walking.  The  impulse  to  pray  may  be  temporarily  weakened 
or  stifled,  but,  like  every  instinct,  it  cannot  be  suppressed. 

A  complete  and  harmonious  life  presupposes  two  things: 
action  and  a  quiet,  thoughtful  condition.  The  external  life  is 
not  sufificient  for  man.  In  contact  with  the  world,  especially  in 
the  routine  of  business,  the  soul's  strength  becomes  exhausted, 
and  needs  renewal,  and  this  it  finds  when  it  prays.  When  a 
tourist  ascends  a  mountain,  he  frequently  stops  in  the  course 
of  his  steep  climb  in  order  to  take  breath.  Prayer  is  the  halt 
along  the  path  of  life  which  enables  the  soul  to  take  breath. 
He  who  does  not  pray  wrongs  himself.  "  The  man  who  does 
not  pray,"  said  a  preacher,  "  is  an  essentially  incomplete  human 
being,  a  discrowned  king.  He  has  renounced  the  noblest  exer- 
cise of  his  faculties,  and  dispensed  with  the  most  necessary  of 
all  means  of  succour." 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  159 

There  are  stoical  natures  to  which  prayer  seems  useless  or 
superfluous.  Such  souls,  however,  are  rare  exceptions.  Those 
M'ho  do  not  pray,  as  a  rule,  know  nothing  of  the  aspirations  of 
our  nature  and  their  conduct  follows  a  merely  terrestrial  bent. 
In  contact  with  Divinity,  our  feelings  and  duties  become  puri- 
fied and  our  nobler  passions-  are  kindled  anew.  Without 
prayer  it  is  possible  to  be  an  honourable  and  virtuous  man, 
but  it  is  only  by  Divine  help  that  we  realise  the  full  destiny 
of  children  of  God.  The  soul  cannot  truly  live  deprived  of  the 
Divine  atmosphere. 

For  what  arc  men  better  tlian  sheep  or  goats 

That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 

If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 

Both  for  themselves  and  those  who  call  them  friend?  ^■ 

Science  and  Prayer 

An  antagonism  has  been  set  up  between  science  and  prayer. 
Prayer  is  supposed  to  be  quite  natural  in  an  age  of  ignorance, 
while  destined  to  disappear  with  the  diffusion  of  scientific 
ideas.  Auguste  Comte,  the  founder  of  Positivism,  distin- 
guished three  stages  in  the  development  of  humanity  —  the 
theological,  the  philosophical,  and  the  positive.  This,  however, 
was  an  over-hasty  generalisation.  Instead  of  discrediting 
prayer,  science  is  increasingly  being  called  in  to  verify  it. 
Science  and  faith  are  not  two  parallel  lines  that  never  meet; 
they  are  two  planes,  destined  to  meet  and  interpenetrate. 

Science  is  an  auxiliary  of  faith.  Religious  feeling  in  itself 
is  blind,  and  will  attach  itself  to  a  fetish  as  readily  as  to  God 
the  infinite  Spirit.  The  religious  idea  is  adapted  to  our  general 
knowledge  and  is  transformed  along  wnth  it.  Progress  in 
belief  results  from  fuller  enlightenment.  The  greater  the 
ignorance,  the  cruder  the  religion.  Nevertheless,  science  is  not 
the  only  factor  in  religious  progress;  the  working  of  Provi- 
dence in  humanity  must  not  be  forgotten  with  its  gift  of  great 
personalities,  who  outstrip  their  contemporaries  and  release 
new  rays  of  light.  Moreover,  the  development  of  criticism 
and  strict  observation  helps  faith  by  ridding  it  of  its  prejudices 
and  of  its  outworn  and  erroneous  notions.  Prayer  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  science ;  the  farther  science  advances,  the  nearer 
it  approaches  to  the  God  Who  is  glimpsed  by  the  human  con- 
sciousness,  and  Who  was   revealed   by  Jesus.     There  is   no 

1  Tennyson,  The  Passing  of  Arthur. 


i6o  THE  POWER  OE  PRAYER 

truth  opposed  to  truth;  and  positive  or  material  realities  can 
never  witness  against  the  God  Who  is  the  one  supreme  reality. 
Each  step  taken  in  the  knowledge  of  the  universe  and  of  nature 
is  a  step  towards  a  fuller  understanding  of  the  perfections  and 
the  purpose  of  the  Creator. 

This  does  not  imply  that  civilisation  necessarily  makes  men 
good,  or  that  instruction  leads  inevitably  to  God.  There  is 
a  negative  science,  or  rather  a  science  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
irreligion,  whose  object  it  is  to  destroy  the  very  idea  of  God, 
on  the  ground  that  religion  is  responsible  for  the  worst  crimes 
in  history.  This  is  the  attitude  of  certain  scientists  who, 
repelled  by  some  element  in  the  traditional  idea  of  Divinity, 
are  unable  to  discern  the  significance  and  value  of  the  imperfect 
manifestations  of  religion.  There  is  no  science  except  of  the 
certain,  we  are  told,  though  many  make  science  of  the  uncer- 
tain. But  true  science  is  not  opposed  to  the  recognition  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  however  it  may  quarrel  with  ideas  that  have 
been  formed  of  Him  from  His  worshippers.  Darwin  was 
surprised  at  being  regarded  as  an  atheist  on  account  of  his 
doctrine  of  the  transmutation  of  species.  He  merely  said  that 
he  had  no  need  of  God  in  support  of  his  theory.  The  thought 
of  attacking  the  theistic  doctrine  did  not  enter  his  mind.  The 
truth  is  that  science  has  been  to  many  the  forecourt  of  religion. 
We  need  only  mention  Newton,  who  uncovered  his  head  when- 
ever the  name  of  God  was  uttered  in  his  presence,  and  Kepler, 
who  ended  his  great  work  with  the  prayer:  "  I  thank  Thee,  O 
my  Creator  and  Master,  for  having  given  me  to  experience  such 
joys  and  ecstatic  rapture  in  the  contemplation  of  Thy  heaven. 
...HI  have  said  anything  unworthy  of  Thee,  pity  and  for- 
give me."  Ouatrefages,  the  anthropologist,  a  worthy  de- 
scendant of  the  Huguenots,  considered  that  religion  and  faith 
were  rooted  in  the  needs  of  human  nature.  Humphry  Davy, 
who  brought  about  a  reform  in  chemistry,  looked  upon  religion 
as  the  lighthouse  pointing  the  shipwrecked  mariner  to  his  home- 
land. Chevreul,  another  chemist,  considered  that  there  was 
nothing  in  the  world  superior  to  the  Christian  faith  which 
comforts  the  bereaved  mother  and  raises  the  fallen  man. 
Adolphe  Wurtz  lived  and  died  a  Christian.  Wiegand,  the 
botanist,  requests  that  there  should  be  engraved  on  his  tomb  the 
Apostles'  Creed.  Pasteur  was  a  religious  man.  Spencer  in 
his  First  Principles  says  that  science  is  hostile  to  the  super- 
stitions that  pass  current  under  the  name  of  religion,  but  him- 
self offered  an  Apology  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  essence 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  i6i 

of  religion.     Scientific  progress  cannot  discredit  or  supersede 
piety. 

Concerned  as  it  is  with  the  objective  method,  Positivism 
would  gladly  ignore  such  phenomena  as  cannot  be  investigated 
by  the  five  senses.  Still,  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  exclude  the 
moral  or  social  facts  among  which  prayer  has  a  prominent 
place.  Prayer  cannot  be  demonstrated  like  a  theorem  in  math- 
ematics or  a  scientific  fact ;  all  the  same,  it  is  as  much  an  object 
of  observation  and  experiment  as  any  positive  fact.  The  re- 
ligious experience  may  be  more  complex  and  difficult  to  analyse 
than  other  phenomena  liut  that  alone  should  not  dishearten  us. 
Much  free  thought  tries  to  iind  through  science  nothing  more 
than  grounds  for  doubt  or  denial.  Why  should  there  not  be 
discovered  through  it  reasons  for  believing  and  praying?  Re- 
ligion will  be  all  the  more  living  and  active  if  harmony  is 
established  between  intellectual  development  and  belief. 
Science  ought  to  strengthen  prayer.  Dealing  as  it  does  with 
secondary  causes,  it  ought  to  teach  us  to  seek  refuge  in  the  one 
First  Cause  and  to  bow  before  Divine  Omnipotence.  Both 
psychology  and  religious  experience  are  agreed  in  recognising 
the  reality  of  prayer.  Man  is  not  altogether  reason  or  alto- 
gether feeling ;  he  is  both  at  the  same  time.  The  heart  must  no 
more  be  sacrificed  to  the  intellect  than  the  intellect  to  the  heart. 

IV.  The  Subconscious 

When  dealing  w'ith  prayer,  we  must  refer  to  the  sub- 
conscious, which  is  now  commonly  recognised  as  an  assured 
datum  of  psychology. 

God  acts  upon  the  individual  in  prayer.  A  personality  is  a 
centre  of  life  and  activity.  When  speaking  to  an  eminent 
man,  we  feel  and  probably  submit  to  his  influence;  and  since 
God  is  personality  raised  to  its  highest  power,  the  perfect 
personality,  the  origin  and  sum  of  all  beneficent  energies,  He 
must  be  supposed  to  exercise  intimate  influence  upon  all  w'ho 
draw  near  to  Him.  But  how  is  this  power  or  action  of  the 
Divine  upon  the  human  mind  effected  ? 

Experimental  psychology  has  found  in  man  a  receptive 
attitude  which  has  been  called  the  subconscious.  This  in- 
volves the  power  to  receive  alien  impressions  unknown  to 
reason.  Deep  within  the  ego  there  takes  place  an  involuntary 
accumulation  of  impressions  which  come  to  birth  after  a  more 
or  less  prolonged  gestation.     Every  one  knows  something  of 


i62  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  unconscious  activity  which  goes  on  within  ourselves.  Who 
has  not  asked  himself  a  question  that  seemed  insoluble  and 
upon  which  light  has  suddenly  flashed,  the  solution  coming 
about  without  apparent  effort? 

The  subconscious  not  only  solves  problems  which  baffle  the 
reason;  it  also  occasionally  enters  into  conflict  with  the  con- 
scious being.  It  has  been  remarked  that  there  is  a  determinism 
of  thought  as  well  as  of  nature.  The  individual  is  not  master 
of  the  ideas  that  come  to  him ;  he  is  powerless  either  to  destroy 
or  to  create  them.  In  order  to  drive  away  an  importunate  or 
an  unpleasant  thought,  he  is  compelled  to  call  up  another 
thought.  You  only  drive  away  by  what  you  replace;  a 
seductive  preoccupation  vanishes  only  before  a  more 
imperious  one.  Whence  arise  those  obsessing  thoughts  against 
which  the  will  is  powerless,  if  not  from  that  subconscious  state 
which  constitutes  the  unknown  and  mysterious  substratum  of 
human  personality?  The  subconscious  explains  man's  recep- 
tivity to  the  promptings  from  without  which  accumulate 
within  ourselves,  bringing  us  into  touch  with  the  Divine. 
When  the  prophets  speak  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  it  is  to 
their  subconscious  self  that  the  Divine  words  must  be  attributed. 
The  Divine  Spirit  is  all  around,  like  the  atmosphere  that  en- 
circles the  earth.  By  prayer  and  meditation  the  individual  is 
steeped  in  that  psychic  environment  over  which  God  reigns, 
and  the  self  receives  a  store  of  Divine  energy  to  help  it  in 
the  struggle  for  life. 

V.  The  Supernatural 

Prayer  is  related  to  the  supernatural.  If  this  latter  is  non- 
existent, its  influence  is  illusory.  Theologians  have  insisted 
on  contrasting  the  supernatural  with  the  natural  and  regarding 
them  as  two  opposing  realms  of  fact.  The  supernatural  has 
been  mistakenly  identified  with  the  miraculous,  whereas,  ac- 
cording to  the  point  of  view,  everything  is  natural  or  everything 
is  supernatural.  The  individual  is  living  in  the  contingent. 
He  does  not  see  what  is  above  himself  or  outside  of  nature; 
natural  facts  are  all  that  he  perceives.  Science  knows  nothing 
of  the  supernatural,  which  lies  outside  its  means  of  investiga- 
tion.    Science  as  such  neither  accepts  it  nor  rejects  it. 

The  supernatural  is  everywhere,  as  is  the  natural.  It  desig- 
nates that  which  is  above  nature,  i.  e.  the  Divine  in  itself, 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  163 

Divine  Transcendence  in  contrast  with  Immanence  or  the 
Divine  in  nature.  From  the  standpoint  of  i)rayer,  the  super- 
natural is  the  God  of  our  supphcations,  Who  intervenes  in 
history  and  in  human  Hfc.  It  represents  not  the  miracle  that 
strikes  our  senses  but  rather  the  hidden  cause  of  the  phenom- 
enon.    The  supernatural  is  interchangeable  with  God. 

The  supernatural  is  incapable  of  proof,  though  there  are 
strong  presumptions  in  its  favour.  The  Divine  reveals  itself 
by  its  working's.  The  universe  is  a  manifestation  of  the  super- 
natural. Our  intellect  is  too  feeble  to  reach  it,  though  we  are 
able  to  contemplate  it  in  its  works.  "  The  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God,"  said  the  Hebrew  psalmist,  "  and  the  firmament 
showeth  his  handiwork."  The  natural  is  not  its  own  cause; 
it  leaves  us  to  divine  the  supernatural.  As  the  river  flows  from 
its  source  so  do  created  things  flow  from  the  creative  energy. 

It  would  be  rash  to  declare  that  there  is  no  other  will  in 
the  universe  than  that  of  man.  Sir  William  Crookes  saw  in 
nature  a  combination  of  thought  and  will  controlling  the  purely 
material  movement  of  atoms.  Behind  the  molecular  move- 
ment which  formed  the  world  there  is  an  unknown  force  which 
guides  the  cells,  leading  them  onv/ards  to  follow^  a  pathway 
that  has  previously  been  traced  for  them. 

Prayer  takes  for  granted  the  supernatural.  Cut  off  from 
the  Divine  Being,  faith  is  objectless ;  the  supernatural  is  the 
very  basis  of  religion.  To  do  away  with  the  supernatural  in 
the  Gospel  is  not  to  get  rid  of  something  external,  some 
troublesome  superstition  which  can  be  ignored ;  it  is  to  do  away 
with  its  very  substance  —  the  Divine  power  to  help.  If  we 
reject  the  supernatural,  prayer  no  longer  has  a  purpose  or 
destination,  and  becomes  irrational  as  well  as  inexplicable. 

VI.  The  Objects  of  Prayer 

i.  Subjective  Effect 

What  power  has  prayer?  Can  we  rely  upon  prayer  being 
answered?  Is  the  answer  something  tangible  or  simply  in- 
terior? There  are  two  theories  in  the  field:  one  lays  the 
emphasis  on  God's  free  w'ill  which  makes  the  granting  of  re- 
quests possible ;  the  other  insists  on  the  Divine  immutability 
and  the  determinism  of  nature,  which  are  declared  to  be  in- 
compatible with  Divine  intervention  in  human  affairs. 


1 64  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Prayer  has  an  immediate  result,  in  that  it  reacts  on  the 
person  who  offers  it.  Even  those  who  deny  that  it  possesses 
any  other  efficacy  acknowledge  that  it  produces  subjective 
effects. 

By  giving  expression  to  his  thoughts,  an  individual  becomes 
more  clearly  conscious  of  them.  So  long  as  they  remain  un- 
formulated, our  opinions  are  undecided  and  vague;  we  truly 
know  them  only  after  giving  them  concrete  form. 

This  is  true  from  the  spiritual  standpoint;  religious  im- 
pressions are  our  own ;  our  desires  are  real  only  after  they  have 
assumed  expression.  It  has  been  said  that  prayer  arrests  or 
fixes  the  soul's  aspiration.  If  I  ask  God  for  greater  faith,  zeal 
and  resignation,  it  is  natural  that  after  such  a  prayer  I  should 
be  more  disposed  to  believe  and  act  so  as  to  submit  to  the 
Divine  will. 

The  simple  fact  of  relating  my  cares  and  difficulties  to  an- 
other has  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  mind ;  anguish  is  alleviated 
and  a  sense  of  security  increased.  Prayer  modifies  perceptibly 
the  course  of  our  thoughts. 

Intense  and  prolonged  meditation  may  bring  about  a  sort  of 
enthusiasm  or  mystic  ecstasy  during  which  visions  and  dreams 
are  experienced.  They  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  mere  hallu- 
cinations or  consequences  of  a  pathological  state  of  the  body 
involving  a  perversion  of  the  understanding.  Where  is  the  line 
to  be  drawn  between  health  and  sickness  ?  No  organism  is 
perfectly  healthy;  each  one  carries  within  itself  the  morbid 
germ  which  will  eventually  kill  it.  Possibly  some  religious 
individuals  have  been  unbalanced,  but  some  who  have  told  of 
these  things  are  notable  personalities  that  have  left  a  deep  mark 
on  the  world.  Experimental  spiritualism  would  seem  to  prove 
the  possibility  of  the  extraordinary  phenomena  and  to  sub- 
stantiate them.  We  speak  of  musical  and  lyrical  transport; 
when  the  poet  is  inspired  he  composes  his  best  lines ;  when  the 
musician  is  caught  up  by  the  mens  diznnior  of  Horace  his  music 
is  aflame  with  beauty.  In  religious  transport  caused  by  in- 
tense prayer  the  power  of  the  spirit  increases ;  an  accumulation 
of  blood  in  the  cerebro-spinal  vessels  develops  apperception; 
the  senses  are  affected  by  the  slightest  etheric  shocks ;  and  the 
result  is  the  special  experiences  of  the  prayer-life.  Their  pro- 
duction requires  a  very  lofty  spiritual  temperature,  and  to 
verify  them  it  would  be  necessary  to  pass  through  a  mystic 
transport  of  like  nature  and  to  be  endowed  with  a  like  nervous 
organisation. 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  165 

ii.   Objective  Effect 

Can  prayer  be  limited  to  this  subjective  function?  Many- 
theologians  think  so :  though  they  themselves  practise  prayer, 
they  do  not  regard  it  as  capable  of  giving  any  objective  result, 
and  expect  n(.)thing  of  the  kind  from  (iod,  to  Whom  the  prayer 
is  addressed. 

If,  however,  we  were  thus  to  limit  its  sphere  of  action, 
prayer  would  speedily  become  extinct  in  the  human  soub — Very 
few  would  continue  to  pray  knowing  that  their  requests  were 
of  no  avail.  Prayer  would  then  become  a  mental  exercise,  a 
kind  of  spiritual  gymnastics  of  doubtful  value.  It  might,  aj)- 
parently,  in  times  of  distress  be  replaced  to  advantage  by  a  piece 
of  music,  the  singing  of  a  ballad,  or  the  reading  of  a  poem. 
Such  a  theory  does  not  easily  j^fear  examination.  Why  address 
prayers  to  God  if  He  does  not  hear  them?  No  one  prays  for 
the  sake  of  praying,  for  the  pleasure  of  experiencing  a  prayer- 
feeling.  "  Art  for  art's  sake  "  is  a  phrase  used  by  none  but 
theorists. 

Prayer  is  not  a  monologue  sent  out  into  the  void  of  space. 
It  presupposes  an  interlocutor  who  listens  and  is  able  to 
answer.  He  who  prays  speaks  not  to  himself  but  to  a  Being 
believed  to  be  present  and  acting.  No  one  would  pray  to  an 
unheeding  God,  incapable  of  granting  one's  requests. 

The  subjective  theory,  which  tends  to  dispense  with  God,  to 
Whom  the  petition  is  addressed,  is  inadequate  to  explain  the 
religious  phenomenon  of  prayer.  It  is  condemned  by  psycho- 
logical observation.  The  very  thing  that  inclines  to  prayer  is 
the  conviction  that  our  words  can  act  upon  God.  A  man 
feels  that  he  is  appealing  to  some  one  who  is  stronger  and 
greater  than  himself,  and  who  is  capable  of  helping  him.  If 
this  is  an  error  or  an  illusion  it  is,  nevertheless,  of  world- 
wide scope;  it  would  also  imply  an  irremediable  defect  in 
human  nature.  Prayer  is  nothing  if  not  action  on  God  by 
man  which  calls  forth  reaction  on  man  by  God.  Prayer  as- 
sumes the  existence  of  a  power  which,  though  invisible,  is  ac- 
cessible to  man.  When  Jesus  said  "  Thy  will  be  done."  He 
was  not  only  ready  to  accept  the  Divine  will,  however  painful ; 
He  also  thought  that  God  would  make  submission  more  easy 
and  even  joyful  for  Himself.  He  who  asks  for  his  daily  bread 
not  onlv  expresses  an  urgent  need ;  he  also  believes  that  God 
is  able  to  give  him  the  necessary  nourishment.  "  Prayer," 
says  5cibatier,  "  brings  to  God  the  sad  estate  of  man  and  carries 


1 66  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

back  to  man  the  communion  and  aid  of  God."  It  may  be 
added  that  most  of  those  who  deny  that  prayers  are  answered 
do  not  themselves  pray ;  unwilhng  as  they  are  to  test  the  efficacy 
of  prayer,  their  opinion  may  well  be  disregarded. 


VII.  The  Critical  Objections 

The  power  of  prayer  encounters  two  obstacles  —  the  one  in 
God  and  the  other  in  nature. 

i.   The  Divine  Immutability 

The  first  obstacle  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer  is  the  Divine 
immutability.  God,  it  is  said,  cannot  change.  He  acts  in  a 
way  that  never  varies. 

Assuredly  a  changing  God,  like  the  deities  of  Olympus,  who 
exhibited  the  anger  and  wrath  of  mortal  heroes,  would  not  be  a 
God  to  Whom  worship  could  be  offered.  The  human  soul 
needs  a  God  upon  Whom  it  can  rely,  Whose  affection  and  love 
never  vary.  Would  our  Father  in  heaven,  however,  cease  to 
be  a  faithful  God  were  He  to  modify  His  purposes?  Im- 
mutability is  a  quality  of  nature.  God  does  not  change  in 
Himself,  but  this  attribute  does  not  exclude  the  varied  opera- 
tions of  a  personal  will. 

As  much  as  metaphysical  immutability,  freedom  is  an  essen- 
tial attribute  of  Divinity.  God  is  not  to  be  conceived  of  as  a 
cold  destiny,  the  fatum  of  antiquity;  He  is  free,  capable  of 
willing,  of  choosing.  His  immutable  nature  does  not  fetter 
His  will.  No  doubt  God  has  fixed  designs  and  purposes  which 
no  one  can  change,  such  as  the  coming  of  His  kingdom  on 
earth  and  His  victory  over  evil.  All  the  same  His  plans  may 
vary  in  form  and  execution.  Rothe,  a  speculative  German 
theologian,  compared  God  to  a  general  who  has  his  plan  of 
campaign  and  yet  takes  account  of  the  manoeuvres  of  the 
enemy  before  putting  them  into  execution ;  or,  again,  to  a 
catechist  who  adapts  his  instruction  to  the  intelligence  of  his 
pupils.  The  Christian  God  is  personal  and  free  above  all  else. 
His  plan  is  bilateral ;  it  affects  both  Creator  and  creature.  He 
regulates  His  attitude  by  that  of  man  and  sometimes  retracts 
His  own  determinations.  If  the  unrighteous  man  abandons 
the  paths  of  wickedness  He  pardons  him.  If  he  does  not  repent 
He  punishes  him.  He  approaches  or  departs  from  the  sinner 
according  as  the  sinner  draws  nigh  to  Him  or  turns  aside. 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  167 

Jesus  tells  us  that  there  is  joy  in  heaven  over  a  sinner  who 
repents.  God  is  a  spiritual  and  moral  Being.  To  deny  the 
possibility  of  His  intervention  in  human  affairs  is  to  deny  His 
liberty  and  convert  Him  into  an  unconscious  force  of  destiny 
—  like  the  pantheist's  God,  Who  is  mistaken  for  His  own 
creation. 

As  these  attributes  of  liberty  and  immutability  seem  mutually 
exclusive,  how  are  we  to  reconcile  them?  Here  we  must  re- 
member Bossuet's  saying:  "Hold  fast  both  ends  and  do  not 
try  to  find  out  where  the  lines  meet."  Recognising  an  antin- 
omy, the  apparent  condict  of  principles  which  are  equally  true, 
human  reason  must  bow^  before  the  impenetrable  veil  of  things. 

What  becomes  of  immutability  in  presence  of  the  psychology 
of  prayer?  He  who  prays  hopes  to  change  the  Divine  will 
as  regards  himself.  Addressing  the  Supreme  Being,  he  would 
turn  aside  some  misfortune,  or  claim  some  boon  indispensable 
to  his  happiness.  The  religious  consciousness  is  not  satisfied 
with  a  God  Who  is  immutable  as  a  statue ;  it  needs  a  living 
God,  free  to  accept  or  to  reject  the  human  request. 

In  the  soul  of  man  prayer  overcomes  the  dogma  of  Divine 
immutability.  Jesus,  when  sul)mitting  to  the  inevitable,  be- 
lieves in  liberty  in  God.  Before  the  Cross,  thinking  that  God 
might  spare  Him  the  hard  fate  which  awaits  Him,  He  cries : 
"  Father,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me."  Our  heavenly  Father 
is  capable  of  preserving  us  from  all  life's  evils  and  of  supplying 
us  with  all  good  things. 

The  second  main  objection  is  that  the  obstacle  is  not  in  God 
but  in  nature.  The  organisation  of  the  universe,  it  is  said, 
renders  impossible  all  independent  action  of  God.  Natural 
laws  infallibly  work  out  their  results.  God  cannot  intervene 
w'ithout  violating  them.  Lord  Bacon  said :  "  We  control 
nature  only  by  obeying  her  laws."  David  Hume  insists  on  this 
point  in  his  Essay  on  Miracles.  "  The  negation  of  laws  can- 
not be  attested  by  experience,  the  certainty  of  which  is  founded 
on  the  regularity  and  the  permanence  of  these  laws." 

This  affirmation,  however,  must  not  be  accepted  unreserv- 
edly. We  start  wnth  the  idea  that  the  natural  laws  are  fully 
known,  or  at  all  events  that  we  know  sufficiently  about  the  uni- 
verse to  deduce  therefrom  all  possible  phenomena.  But  what 
do  we  know  of  the  universe  and  its  laws?  Assuredly  a  little 
more  than  the  Hebrews  of  old  who  believed  in  a  celestial  vault 
on  which  the  sun  and  stars  were  fixed,  and  in  a  motionless 
earth  —  but  really  not  very  much  more.     To  such  as  imagine 


i68  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

that  they  can  determine  all  the  facts  of  the  world  Spinoza  re- 
plies: "May  I  be  permitted  to  inquire  if  we,  poor  mortals, 
have  sufficient  knowledge  of  nature  to  be  able  to  say  how  far 
her  might  and  power  extend,  or  if  there  is  anything  capable  of 
transcending  them?  " 

We  are  not  fully  acquainted  with  our  own  globe,  much  less 
with  the  rest  of  the  planets.  All  sciences  start  with  axioms 
that  cannot  be  verified.  True,  there  is  not  lacking  the  im- 
patient individual  who  claims  that  man  has  nothing  more  to 
learn.  Haeckel,  in  the  Riddle  of  the  Universe,  states  that  the 
world  has  no  longer  any  mysteries. 

Every  day,  however,  brings  with  it  a  refutation  of  such 
assertions.  Since  no  one  possesses  knowledge  intuitively, 
nature  has  not  yet  revealed  all  her  secrets.  Perfect  knowledge 
of  the  universe  would  be  needed  to  declare  that  any  phenom- 
enon is  opposed  to  her  laws. 

It  is  alleged  that  the  natural  laws  are  invariable  and  that 
nothing  is  capable  of  disturbing  their  fixity;  but  whence  come 
these  laws  that  are  said  to  make  the  efficacy  of  prayer  incred- 
ible? Nowhere  are  they  inscribed  in  letters  of  fire  for  us  to 
read  them.  Law  is  a  conception  of  our  understanding.  Kant 
called  it  a  category.  It  is  a  general  idea  by  which  we  establish 
the  relations  of  phenomena  with  one  another,  but  it  does  not 
include  all  possible  variations  capable  of  taking  place.  Laws 
appear  as  scientific  discoveries ;  the  scientist  advances  them  in 
accordance  with  empirical  data,  and  they  reveal  themselves  to 
him,  one  by  one,  according  to  the  perfection  of  the  instruments 
employed  and  of  his  methods  of  observation.  The  organisa- 
tion of  the  universe  as  we  conceive  it  possesses  a  history.  It 
was  not  formed  within  the  mind  in  a  single  day.  Before 
Copernicus,  the  dual  movement  of  the  planets  in  themselves 
and  round  the  sun  was  not  known.  Before  Pasteur,  many  be- 
lieved in  spontaneous  generation.  The  scientist's  conceptions 
of  natural  laws  are  arrived  at  and  formulated  by  degrees  and 
provisionally ;  his  deductions  being  taken  from  facts  more  or 
less  numerous  and  well  observed,  he  is  frequently  mistaken  in 
his  synthesis,  and  his  judgements  need  to  be  revised  and  com- 
pleted. "  The  true  scientist,"  writes  Huxley,  "  lays  down  his 
rules  tentatively,  for  he  knows  that  along  with  known  facts 
are  a  host  of  others  that  have  not  been  investigated." 

We  find  many  phenomena  following  a  certain  order,  but  we 
have  neither  perfectly  grasped  this  order  nor  registered  all  the 
exceptions.     The  physical  laws  are  ever  becoming  more  varied 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  169 

and  numerous,  the  better  we  understand  the  mechanism  of  the 
universe.  They  represent  averages,  not  direct  constants. 
Science  has  not  yet  uttered  her  final  word.  When  she  solves 
one  question,  it  is  only  to  ask  another,  and  she  cannot  determine 
that  which  is  possible  and  that  which  is  impossible. 

Nature  reveals  great  complexity,  and  her  simplicity  is  only 
apparent.  Where  we  see  uniformity  by  reason  of  the  coarse- 
ness of  our  senses,  a  closer  examination  shows  more  and  more 
varied  details.  At  the  international  Congress  of  Physics  in 
Paris,  1900,  Hanotaux,  the  physicist,  said  that  science  appears 
to  be  advancing  in  the  direction  of  variety  and  complexity. 

The  laws  of  nature  cannot  be  appealed  to  in  order  to  dis- 
credit prayer.  To  talk  of  the  invariable  order  of  the  universe 
is  to  invoke  what  we  do  not  know  in  order  to  deny  the  phe- 
nomenon we  see.  The  fixity  of  universal  laws,  as  is  pointed  out 
by  M.  Boutroux  (Contingency  of  the  Laws  of  Nature),  is  but 
an  hypothesis.  In  proportion  as  we  rise  in  the  series  of  laws, 
whether  logical,  mathematical,  physical,  chemical,  biological, 
psychological,  or  sociological,  we  note  that  rigidity  diminishes 
and  makes  way  for  greater  freedom.  The  most  firmly  es- 
tablished laws  show  an  amazing  elasticity,  and  this  enables  God 
to  answer  prayer. 

True,  the  organisation  of  the  universe  sets  a  limit  to  Divine 
intervention.  There  are  things  impossible  to  God  as  well  as 
to  man.  No  one  would  ask  Him  to  restore  youth  to  an 
old  man.  All  the  same,  in  the  present  state  of  science  no  one 
would  presume  to  use  the  w^ord  "  impossible."  The  laws  of 
nature  do  not  paralyse  her  action  any  more  than  the  forces  of 
heredity  or  habit  suppress  human  freedom.  The  man  who 
studies  nature  is  increasingly  struck  by  the  wonderful  power 
emanating  therefrom.  "  The  earnest  savant,"  wrote  Spencer 
(On  Intellectual  and  Moral  Education) ,  "  and  bv  this  term  we 
do  not  mean  the  man  who  is  satisfied  with  calculating  distances, 
analysing  compounds,  or  labelling  species,  but  the  man  who 
through  lower  truths  seeks  for  higher  truths  or  even  the 
supreme  truth ;  the  genuine  savant  is  the  only  man  who  knows 
how  far  above  not  only  our  knowledge  but  all  human  concep- 
tion is  that  universal  power  of  which  nature,  life,  and  thought 
are  manifestations." 

ii.  Dynamic  Notion  of  the  Universe 

Many  persons  reject  prayer  because  they  regard  the  universe 
in  the  Cartesian  fashion  as  a  kind  of  clock  made  bv  the  Divine 


I70  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

artificer,  and  set  going  to  run  on  for  ever.  It  is  time  to  form 
a  truer  conception  of  the  world.  The  problem  of  the  universe 
is  not  simply  one  of  mechanics.  The  atomic  theory  of  matter 
has  had  to  be  abandoned.  We  no  longer  think  of  bodies  as 
composed  of  inert  particles  subject  to  the  laws  of  motion  or  to 
extraneous  impulses.  Many  in  these  days  are  reverting  to  the 
pantheistic  idea  of  the  universe,  and  this  is  founded  on  a  part 
of  the  truth.  It  is  recognised  that  there  is  no  radical  or  funda- 
mental opposition  between  matter  and  mind.  As  Virgil  said 
long  ago.  Mens  agitat  moleui.  The  difference  is  more  quan- 
titative than  cjualitative ;  it  is  a  difference  of  more  or  less. 
Matter  is  permeated  with  mind  which  is  found  everywhere  in 
the  form  of  energy.  The  world  is  energy,  or  rather,  to  borrow 
a  phrase  (Sabatier,  The  Philosophy  of  Effort),  matter  is  fig- 
ured energy.  Formerly  it  was  considered  possible  to  distin- 
guish easily  between  mind  and  matter,  but  now  the  demarcation 
seems  arbitrary.  The  naturalist  looks  upon  physical  energy  as 
a  lower  form  of  psychic  energy  transformed  into  mechanical 
equivalents  of  various  orders  —  light,  heat,  electricity,  etc. 

The  absolute  determinism  to  which  men  would  subject  na- 
ture is  but  an  hypothesis.  Sabatier,  whose  opinion  on  this 
subject  is  more  valuable  than  that  of  a  theologian,  states  that 
the  principle  of  the  conservation  of  energy  is  not  the  expression 
of  an  ever  constant  quantity,  and  that  it  by  no  means  excludes 
the  introduction  of  hidden  forces  previously  absent  and  de- 
rived from  an  external  source.  He  arrives  at  the  conclusion 
that  Nature  is  indeterminate ;  many  phenomena  obey  a  law  of 
proportion  which  has  not  yet  been  established. 

"  Determinism,"  said  Renouvier,  "  needs  to  be  demonstrated; 
consequently  it  is  not  to  be  set  up  as  an  axiom.  Phenomena 
appear  one  after  another,  not  one  out  of  another.  The 
necessity  of  their  appearance  is  not  established.  Logical, 
mathematical  necessity  is  confused  with  physical  necessity." 

This  is  the  dynamic  theory  of  the  universe  as  opposed  to 
the  purely  mechanical  motion,  and  it  has  now  Avon  the  day. 

This  theory  enables  us  to  understand  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 
As  the  universe  is  not  a  machine  supplied  with  springs  like  a 
clock,  each  wheel  performing  the  same  incessant  movement,  but 
rather  a  sum  total  of  forces  which  combine  with  one  another 
and  exercise  mutual  attraction  and  repulsion,  considerable 
scope  is  left  for  Divine  action.  God's  work  consists  in  utilising 
the  energies  of  nature  and  humanity,  organic  and  psychic, 
known  and  unknown,  to  bring  about  the  new  phenomenon 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  171 

which  is  to  enter  into  the  process  of  natural  events.  The  or- 
dinary laws  are  respected  and  continue  to  function,  1)ut  there 
are  other  intervening  elements  which  may  paralyse  them  and 
prevent  them  from  producing  their  full  effects.  Here,  for  in- 
stance, is  the  formula  of  density:  a  body  left  to  itself  falls 
towards  the  centre  of  the  earth  with  increasing  velocity.  If, 
however,  I  put  out  my  hand  to  grasp  the  body,  it  will  deviate, 
or  rather  will  be  stopped  altogether  in  its  fall.  Being  no 
longer  left  to  itself,  the  body  is  no  longer  totally  subject  to 
gravity ;  a  new  force  has  come  into  play  to  counteract  the  said 
law  and  remove  the  object  from  its  inlluence.  In  the  same  way 
God  intervenes  in  the  world.  He  suppresses  no  law.  He  con- 
fines himself,  as  Sabatier  says,  to  adding  to  the  action  of  so- 
called  material  forces  other  forces  whose  influence,  combined 
with  that  of  the  former,  will  produce  a  new  resultant  which 
cancels  or  modifies  the  first  resultant. 

Man  is  continually  intervening  in  nature.  By  an  ingenious 
process  of  cultivation  the  gardener  produces  a  variety  of 
flowers  and  fruits  which  would  not  exist  but  for  his  inter- 
vention. The  chemist  succeeds  in  compounding  natural  bodies 
from  multiple  combinations  by  chemical  synthesis.  A  God 
Who  could  not  intervene  in  humanity  and  make  natural  forces 
serve  the  realisation  of  His  plans  would  be  a  poorer  and  a 
feebler  being  than  man  himself.  What  the  individual  in  his 
ignorance  can  do  on  a  small  scale  God  does  on  a  large  scale. 
The  material  world  is  but  an  instrument  of  the  mind  which 
aspires  to  gain  ever  more  complete  possession  of  it. 


VIII.  Divine  Goodness  and  General  Experience 

Without  troubling  about  the  theological  or  material  objec- 
tions that  may  be  brought  against  prayer,  Jesus  categorically 
affirms  its  power.  In  His  eyes  it  has  two  firm  foundations  — 
Divine  goodness  and  common  experience.  In  practice  the 
granting  of  prayer  becomes  a  certainty;  prayer  infallibly  pro- 
duces its  effect. 

Jesus  spoke  of  God  as  the  heavenly  Father,  and  St.  John 
defined  His  nature  in  the  expression  "  God  is  love."  We  were 
thus  taught  to  think  of  Him  as  One  ^^'ho  is  full  of  tender 
concern  for  His  creatures,  and  protects  and  guides  them,  and 
brings  them  back  to  Himself  when  they  wander  astray.  Upon 
Him  we  may  unburden  all  our  cares.     He  shares  our  troubles 


172  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  rejoices  in  our  joy.  He  works  for  our  temporal  well- 
being  and  our  eternal  happiness.  He  feeds  the  birds  of  the 
air  and  colours  the  flowers  of  the  field.  But  His  affection  is 
especially  touching  in  the  case  of  man,  created  after  His  own 
image;  "  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered." 

Would  not  that  which  is  obtained  from  evil  man  be  obtained 
from  God,  Who  is  good?  The  reply  admits  of  no  doubt: 
"  If  ye  then  being  evil  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 
give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him?  " 

Jules  Simon  says  that  the  God  Who  awaits  our  desires  is 
no  longer  the  infinite  God  of  the  reason.  No,  but  He  is  the 
loving  God,  Who  is  accessible  to  all  His  creatures.  He  is  not 
a  distant  God,  enthroned  in  His  palace  like  some  eastern  mon- 
arch, indifferent  to  His  subjects,  but  a  God  near  at  hand, 
capable  of  being  moved  and  won  over  to  our  cause.  "If  God 
is  really  what  the  Christian  thinks,"  says  Sabatier,  "  He  must 
more  than  any  other  be  powerful  enough  to  act  in  conformity 
with  our  desires,  and  paternal  enough  to  give  ear  to  our  suffer- 
ings and  supplications."  We  may  add  that  the  more  paternal 
He  is,  the  more  will  He  intervene  in  human  existence.  God's 
goodness  is  a  guarantee  of  the  granting  and  the  eflicacy  of 
prayer. 

Common  experience  is  expressed  in  these  words :  "  Ask  and 
ye  shall  receive ;  seek  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock  and  it  shall  be 
opened  tmto  you."  Jesus  has  observed  that  refusals  and  losses 
are  few  and  exceptional ;  the  rule  is  that  he  who  asks  receives, 
that  the  door  is  opened  to  him  who  knocks,  and  that  he  who  has 
lost  anything  generally  finds  it  after  a  careful  search.  The 
Prefecture  of  Paris  issues  annual  statistics  of  objects  lost  and 
found.  Out  of  867  objects  lost  in  the  year  before  the  War 
861  were  recovered.  This  fact  may  not  unreasonably  be 
thought  to  be  evidence  of  the  reality  of  answers  to  prayer. 

What  takes  place  in  social  life  also  takes  place  with  refer- 
ence to  prayer.  Religious  experience  is  subject  to  the  usual 
rule :  God  replies  when  He  is  addressed.  Instead  of  refusing 
us.  He  grants  us  greater  blessings  than  those  we  ask, 

Jesus  was  always  certain  of  the  answers  to  His  own  prayers, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Gethsemane  prayer.  "  I  know  that 
thou  hearest  me  always,"  He  said  before  the  tomb  of  Lazarus. 
His  own  life  and  the  lives  of  His  apostles  abound  with  won- 
derful instances  of  the  hearing  of  prayer.  The  place  of  prayer 
in  the  life  of  St.  Paul  particularly  repays  study,  as  he  records 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  173 

many  answered  prayers,  and  also  gives  reasons  why  some  were 
not  answered. 

Is  the  answering  of  prayer  but  an  illusion  of  the  pious  man 
who  sees  the  hand  of  God  everywhere,  or  do  we  sometimes 
attribute  to  prayer  that  which  is  but  a  lucky  concourse  of  cir- 
cumstances, a  mere  coincidence?  Assuredly  there  is  an  ele- 
ment of  illusion.  Errarc  humamim  est.  But  things  also  hap- 
pen with  no  favouring  circumstances  and  contrary  to  all  ex- 
pectation. Popular  wisdom  acknowledges  that  the  final  word 
belongs  to  God.  "  Man  proposes  and  God  disposes."  "  No," 
exclaims  a  great  contemporary  preacher,  Bersier,  "  I  have  faith 
in  the  spontaneous  testimony  of  the  soul,  that  God  must  answer 
it;  and  when,  in  order  to  uphold  some  system  or  other,  people 
are  compelled  to  give  the  name  of  illusion  to  a  deep  and  uni- 
versal feeling  of  the  human  soul  or  to  violate  this  feeling  and 
distort  its  nature,  I  distrust  the  system  which  is  transient  and 
believe  in  the  feeling  which  is  not  transient.  The  man  who 
does  not  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer  to  God  goes  against 
the  Gospel  and  contradicts  the  experience  of  those  who  have 
prayed  at  all  times  and  in  all  places." 


IX.  The  Law  of  Prayer 

The  question  may  be  asked  whether  prayer  does  not  obey 
law^s  like  any  other  phenomenon.  Social  life  is  subject  to 
rules  which  were  long  unknown  and  are  still  disregarded.  The 
economist  is  aware  that  commercial  and  industrial  facts  are 
governed  by  laws.  When  these  laws  are  violated  by  protective 
legislation,  they  make  their  presence  felt  by  implacable  sanc- 
tions from  which  all  alike  suffer. 

Whv  should  there  not  be  a  law  controlling  the  answers  to 
prayer?  By  giving  attention  we  might  perhaps,  from  the 
finality  of  the  universe,  hit  upon  a  deductive  law  regulating  its 
efficacy  and  comprised  in  the  formula :  "  True  prayer  will  be 
granted."  "  Were  it  recognised,"  writes  the  Montpellier  pro- 
fessor already  quoted,  "  that  there  is  a  general  tendency  in  the 
universe  towards  a  definite  goal  which,  through  apparent  fluc- 
tuations, proceeds  in  a  fixed  direction,  and  that  progress  has 
really  taken  place  intended  to  carry  the  universe  to  the  realisa- 
tion of  an  end ;  if,  I  say,  this  were  recognised,  it  would  as- 
suredly not  be  difficult  to  understand  that  any  partial  impulse 
taking  place  in  the  direction  of  this  current  will  not  only  be 


174  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

followed  by  an  effect  in  proportion  to  its  identity  but  will  also 
be  favoured  and  increased  by  the  general  impulse  which  adds 
its  action  to  its  own.  In  this  case  there  will  be  agreement  and 
harmony  in  impulse,  consequently  in  movement  and  effect." 

God  assuredly  has  a  purpose  as  regards  the  world,  the  wel- 
fare of  created  beings,  or  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Christianity 
is  a  doctrine  of  human  salvation :  Jesus  came  to  save  the  world. 
This  salvation  is  above  all  a  spiritual  one,  and  to  realise  his 
high  destiny  the  individual  will  occasionally  be  compelled  to 
endure  suffering.  Our  moral  well-being  and  true  happiness 
may  be  opposed  to  our  interests  in  earthly  matters. 

If  prayer  enters  into  the  mind  of  God,  its  efficacy  cannot  be 
questioned  —  it  will  certainly  be  heard.  Every  request  in  con- 
formity with  the  Divine  purpose  must  bear  fruit.  As  the 
apostle  James  declares:  "The  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a 
righteous  man  availeth  much."  But  if  a  man  refuses  to  accept 
the  Divine  will  and  is  determined  to  set  himself  against  God's 
wisdom,  the  request  cannot  reach  its  goal.  It  encounters  an 
obstacle  stronger  than  itself.  If  the  partial  impulse  has  a 
different  direction  from  the  general  one,  the  two  clash  with 
each  other  and  the  general  impulse  may  render  the  partial  one 
powerless  and  of  none  effect. 

In  natural  science  there  is  a  principle  according  to  which 
nothing  is  either  lost  or  created;  a  burning  candle  is  not  de- 
stroyed but  is  transformed  into  its  equivalents  of  carbon,  light, 
and  heat.  And  if  nothing  is  lost  in  nature,  we  may  also  affirm 
that  nothing  is  lost  in  the  psychic  life.  Life,  psychic  force, 
spiritual  energy  may  also  be  recovered.  Every  virile  act,  every 
strong  impulse  in  the  moral  domain  has  its  repercussion  with- 
out. Unless  prayer  is  no  more  than  a  stream  of  words,  im- 
plying no  true  effort  of  the  will,  it  proceeds  straight  to  God. 

Now,  true  petition  is  expenditure  of  energy;  it  implies  suffer- 
ing when  its  object  is  ardently  desired.  In  his  book  on  the 
Welsh  revival  Professor  Bois  Montaubon  relates  that  several 
who  prayed  wiped  the  perspiration  from  their  brows  or  rose 
to  their  feet  with  streaming  eyes.  They  appeared  thoroughly 
exhausted,  as  after  a  violent  physical  effort,  and  sank  into  a 
chair  or  remained  long  prostrate.     Is  this  energy  spent  in  vain? 

Caesar  Malan  distinguished  between  the  granting  of  peti- 
tions, which  he  looked  upon  as  certain,  and  the  mode  of  grant- 
ting  them,  which  is  God's  secret.  To  reject  the  reality  of  the 
granting  of  prayer  is  to  give  up  human  personality,  since  the 
individual  is  no  longer  anything  in  the  Great  All  which  crushes 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  175 

him,  or  at  most  is  the  sport  of  the  concatenation  of  cause  and 
effect,  the  victim  of  physical  law. 

X.  The  Miracles  of  Prayer 

When  prayer  intervenes  in  any  event,  the  result  ceases  to  be 
altogether  ordinary;  it  becomes  shrouded  in  mystery  and  con- 
stitutes a  miracle.  The  Gospels  call  the  cures  effected  by  Jesus 
by  such  names  as  repa?,  a  wonder ;  ayjixdov,  a  sign ;  Suva^ui?,  an  act 
of  power.  The  part  taken  by  God  in  producing  the  event 
cannot  be  defined;  we  discern  the  working  of  Deity,  but  not 
His  method. 

A  miracle  is  a  phenomenon  which  compels  our  attention. 
As  we  have  seen,  it  is  due  to  natural  forces  that  are  unsuspected 
and  have  been  set  in  action  by  prayer.  Secretain  proves  that 
the  exclusion  of  miracles  involves  a  logical  contradiction.  The 
man  who,  relying  on  experience,  declares  a  fact  to  be  impossi- 
ble, really  has  no  other  reason  to  advance  than  that,  within  the 
memory  of  man,  the  fact  in  question  has  never  been  witnessed. 
Consequently,  he  will  have  to  lay  it  down  as  a  principle  that 
that  which  has  never  been  witnessed  is  impossible,  and  say  that 
no  real  fact  has  ever  been  established  for  the  first  time.  It  is 
no  more  scientific  to  reject  all  the  miracles  than  to  accept  them 
all.  God  does  not  perform  all  the  wonders  attributed  to  Him. 
but  He  performs  more  than  we  think.  Rothe  writes :  "  I 
need  miracles  to  understand  history.  It  is  folly  to  reject  a 
fact  because  we  do  not  understand  it.  Miracles  are  every- 
where, within,  around,  and  above  us;  on  earth  man  lives  by 
miracles." 

Wonders  must  diminish  with  the  march  of  progress. 
Whereas  to  the  ignorant  everything  is  a  miracle,  many  prod- 
igies have  disappeared  with  the  advance  of  civilisation  and 
have  become  meaningless.  The  miracle,  however,  will  not 
completely  die  out.  So  long  as  ignorance  is  not  wholly  dissi- 
pated and  suffering  and  death  exist,  the  individual  will  have 
need  of  prayer,  consequently  of  a  miracle  for  the  granting  of 
prayer.  Miracles  will  only  completely  disappear  in  a  higher 
world  in  which  all  is  light,  life,  and  happiness. 

Miracles  are  facts  of  observation  like  other  phenomena. 
When  thev  occur  they  belong  to  the  domain  of  historical  crit- 
icism, which  must  study  them  by  rigorous  methods.  The 
false  do  harm  to  the  true,  and  must  be  distinguished  from 
them.     Investigation  will  prove  fatal  to  none  but  the  false, 


176  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Spinoza  wisely  required  that  every  religious  phenomenon 
should  be  explained  so  far  as  possible  by  natural  causes,  and 
that  judgement  should  be  suspended  regarding  what  we  cannot 
prove  to  be  absurd. 

(i.)   The  Moral  Miracles 

The  wonders  due  to  prayer  are  of  two  kinds — moral  and 
physical  miracles.  The  influence  of  prayer  may  make  itself 
felt  on  a  person's  moral  nature.  Psychologically  a  drunkard 
is  a  condemned  man ;  as  the  Hebrew  proverb  says :  that  which 
is  crooked  cannot  be  made  straight.  Contrary  to  all  expecta- 
tion, however,  this  man  may  be  reformed  as  the  result  of 
prayer;  after  fruitless  attempts  which  show  the  strength  of  the 
passion  which  has  mastered  him,  he  becomes  sober  and  hard- 
working. This  change,  which  baffles  all  expectations,  is  a 
miracle. 

Prayer  enters  largely  into  the  reformation  of  the  sinner;  it 
has  brought  about  conversions  in  large  numbers  and  overcome 
the  most  obstinate  opposition.  At  a  religious  meeting  a  young 
man  interceded  for  his  companion  who  was  drinking  in  a 
neighbouring  public-house.  A  few  minutes  afterwards  the 
latter  entered  the  building  and  made  the  following  confession : 
"  I  have  come  straight  from  the  public-house  where  I  had  gone 
for  a  drink.  As  I  was  raising  the  glass  to  my  mouth  a  sudden 
trembling  came  over  me,  and  something  told  me  to  come  to 
the  meeting  and  give  myself  to  Jesus." 

A  wife  prays  for  her  husband.  Shortly  afterwards  he  is 
seen  entering  the  room  with  a  strange  look  on  his  face.  He 
says  that  he  has  been  seized  by  a  sudden  fright  and  that  he 
wishes  to  give  himself  to  the  Saviour.  In  these  awakenings  of 
conscience  the  effect  of  the  Spirit  is  felt  making  a  strong  im- 
pression on  the  subconscious  mind.  After  a  short  time  the 
collective  energy  of  prayer  proves  stronger  than  the  individual 
will,  and  conversion  results. 

(ii.)   The  Physical  Miracles 

Prayer  may  also  renew  the  body  of  a  sick  man  and  restore 
him  to  health.  The  cures  effected  by  Jesus  were  preceded  by 
prayer. 

It  is  not  likely  that  all  morbid  affections  can  be  cured  by 
prayer.  If  the  trouble  has  its  seat  in  the  nervous  system  and 
j;onsists  of  some  functional  disturbance,  a  cure  may  readily  be 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  177 

understood.  The  disease  is  seldom  localised.  Many  local  af- 
fections arise  from  functional  disturbances  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem. These  patients  are  easily  excitable;  the  spasm  takes  place 
on  the  slightest  occasion;  tears  flow,  or  a  sudden  outburst  of 
passion  follows.  By  inducing  a  state  of  profound  emotion 
prayer  may  remove  this  suffering.  The  majority  of  those 
healed  by  Jesus  suffered  from  nervous  affections.  In  the 
Gospels  they  are  spoken  of  as  demoniacs,  the  Jews  attributing 
the  disease  to  a  demon  who  had  to  be  expelled  from  the  system. 
Present-day  medical  science  speaks  of  these  cases  as  epilepsy, 
hysteria,  and  lunacy. 

Prayer,  however,  does  not  act  only  on  the  patient's  nerves 
in  cases  of  local  paralysis  in  which  there  is  atrophy  of  an 
organ.  Cures  are  also  wrought  in  cases  of  blindness  and  deaf- 
ness, impotence  and  leprosy. 

There  are  people  opposed  to  all  remedies  in  healing  such  dis- 
eases; they  think  that  prayer  alone  is  needed;  the  use  of 
remedies  shows  a  lack  of  faith,  since  it  is  the  will  of  the 
heavenly  Father  that  His  children  should  be  in  good  health. 
Neither  sickness  nor  sin  have  any  existence  for  those  who  be- 
long to  Him,  and  He  alone  is  powerful  enough  to  restore  us  to 
health  when  we  have  lost  it.  Jesus,  however,  did  not  disdain 
to  employ  natural  agencies.  He  made  clay  wherewith  to  anoint 
the  eyes  of  the  man  born  blind.  Remedies  found  in  nature  are 
the  gift  of  God.  He  has  scattered  them  all  around  that  we 
may  make  use  of  them  as  freely  as  we  eat  our  daily  bread. 
They  constitute  a  hearing  of  prayer. 

The  healing  of  organic  diseases  by  prayer  is  carried  on  at 
the  present  time.  Visits  are  paid  to  Lourdes  and  Notre  Dame 
de  Fourviere,  from  which  patients  often  return  healed  after 
invoking  the  Virgin  Mary.  Veuillot,  the  impetuous  and  fiery 
polemical  writer,  became  blind  and  recovered  his  sight  at 
Lourdes.  An  irresistible  spiritual  force  emanates  from  crowds 
of  pilgrims  excited  by  the  recital  of  litanies  and  prayers. 
Jules  Bois,  a  learned  psychologist,  says  in  his  book  entitled 
The  Modern  Miracle:  "  Religious  enthusiasm  profoundly  af- 
fects all  thoughts  of  terror,  desire,  love,  confidence,  and  mys- 
tery. .  .  .  The  medical  bulletins  of  Lourdes  tell  of  cures  of 
cancer  and  consumption.  Here  allowance  must  be  made  for 
unblushing  puffs  and  errors  of  diagnosis.  All  the  same,  sud- 
den improvement  in  health  has  taken  place.  In  Dr.  Stock- 
meyer's  establishments  at  Hauptweil  in  Switzerland  the  sole 
method  employed  is  prayer-healing." 


i/S  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

The  phrase  of  the  great  surgeon,  Ambroise  Pare,  "  I  at- 
tended him ;  God  healed  him,"  may  be  remembered. 

Experimental  spiritualism  corroborates  the  power  of  prayer 
by  such  manifestations  as  the  displacement  of  heavy  objects 
and  of  automatic  writing.  Ordinary  people  attribute  these 
phenomena  to  discarnate  spirits.  They  demonstrate,  however, 
the  action  of  psychic  forces.  Lombroso,  who  rejects  the 
intervention  of  spirits,  admits  that  the  production  of 
the  phenomena  presupposes  the  existence  of  a  mysterious 
force,  subject  to  laws  which  are  still  unknown.  The  power 
of  the  mind  extends  farther  than  we  suppose.  Medical 
science  teaches  that  mind  is  the  root  and  origin  of  a  whole  host 
of  diseases.  Many  people  are  ill  because  they  imagine  they 
are.  A  contemporary  writer  remarks  that  cure  results  from 
the  patient's  power  to  store  away  the  idea  of  recovery  and 
utilise  it  for  a  return  to  health. 

Healing  is  brought  about  by  the  triumph  of  the  vis  medica- 
trix,  or  by  the  will  to  live,  which  overflows  from  the  un- 
conscious into  the  conscious.  Psychic  energy  depending  on  the 
will  is  adequate  to  explain  the  effect  of  prayer  in  local  troubles. 
Prayer  does  not  act  magically  on  the  tissues ;  it  utilises  the 
psychic  force  which  gives  a  fresh  impulse  to  organic  life.  The 
Montpellier  naturalist  also  recognises  the  existence  of  a  psychic 
force  which  is  capable  of  being  directed  by  the  Divine  will  and 
of  modifying  molecular  life. 

We  have  seen  that  there  are  psychological  phenomena  arising 
from  prayer :  visions,  dreams,  states  of  ecstasy.  We  also  find 
that  it  brings  about  purely  physical  phenomena.  In  the  scene 
of  the  Transfiguration,  Avhen  Jesus  was  engaged  in  prayer, 
His  face  shone  as  the  sun.  So  when  Moses  came  down  from 
Mount  Sinai,  his  countenance  appeared  luminous  to  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel.  In  Gethsemane,  as  Jesus  lay  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  drops  of  blood  fell  from  His  face.  Every  one  has 
heard  of  the  stigmata  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  Absorbed  in 
worship  after  a  prolonged  fast,  he  was  conscious  of  pain  in  his 
hands  and  sides,  and  he  retained  the  marks  of  the  Crucified  to 
the  day  of  his  death.  Unless  we  throw  doubt  on  the  monk's 
sincerity,  these  scars  must  be  attributed  to  the  intensity  of  his 
praying. 

Some  scientists  do  not  fear  to  express  the  opinion  that  a 
mental  effort  may  make  itself  felt,  not  only  on  living  beings 
but  also  on  the  inmost  workings  of  matter  itself.  Jesus 
worked  a   few  miracles   of   this  kind  —  the  turning   of   the 


A  MODERN  APOLOGY  179 

water  into  wine  and  the  withering  of  the  fig-tree.  Psychic 
action  on  matter  needs  to  be  further  investigated.  The  vahie 
of  prayer,  it  may  be  added,  depends  on  its  spiritual  utihty; 
unless  it  is  moral  in  its  aim,  it  is  no  more  than  a  manifestation 
of  force,  a  case  of  prestidigitation. 

At  all  events,  let  us  not  forget  that  in  prayer  there  is  more 
than  the  human  element.  God  is  the  mighty  power ;  He  makes 
use  of  a  limitless  psychic  force  capable  of  producing  consider- 
able modification.  His  will  is  an  agent,  more  powerful  than 
that  of  man,  for  directing  and  controlling  natural  forces. 

XI.  Conditions  under  which  Prayer  is  ansv^^ered 

The  power  of  prayer  is  not  exercised  magically  and  inevi- 
tably; it  is  not  sufficient  to  pray  if  w^e  would  work  wonders. 
The  granting  of  prayer  is  based  on  the  deductions  of  science 
and  of  religious  experience. 

Every  law,  however,  demands  certain  conditions  for  its  ac- 
complishment. If  these  are  not  satisfied,  the  law  does  not 
operate.  Natural  law  does  not  work  invariably  in  all  places; 
its  action  depends  on  its  environment.  Take  a  plant :  remove 
it  from  the  action  of  light  and  heat  and  moisture,  and  it 
withers  aw'ay  and  quickly  dies.  In  the  same  way  prayer,  too, 
demands  special  conditions  in  order  to  be  successful.  If  it 
meets  with  opposition,  the  law-  is  broken  and  the  prayer  is  not 
heard.     Here  the  environment  consists  of  God  and  faith. 

Divine  acquiescence  must  be  detained.  In  prayer  w^e  are  not 
dealing  with  blind  forces  but  with  free  beings.  "  My  thoughts 
are  not  your  thoughts,  neither  are  your  ways  my  ways."  God 
is  not  compelled  to  grant  prayer.  As  a  father  does  not  receive 
orders  from  his  children,  so  God  considers  the  expediency  and 
wisdom  of  the  request  in  granting  it  or  in  rejecting  it.  The  in- 
dividual must  bow  before  His  sovereignty.  Jesus,  when  ask- 
ing for  the  Cross  to  be  removed,  said,  "  Nevertheless,  not  my 
will,  but  thine  be  done."  Sometimes  God  makes  us  wait  for 
His  aid  or  sends  it  in  a  different  form ;  He  invariably  has  His 
own  time  and  method  of  answer. 

But  what  makes  prayer  effective  is  faith,  the  measure  of  the 
hearing  of  prayer.  "  Go  thy  way,"  said  Jesus  to  the  centurion. 
"  and  as  thou  hast  believed,  so  be  it  done  unto  thee."  Those 
of  little  faith  receive  nothing ;  those  whose  faith  is  great  receive 
rich  blessings. 

Nothing  can  be  done  without  faith;  confidence  in  oneself 


i8o  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  in  one's  fellowmen  is  necessary  in  all  departments  of  life. 
A  doubting  person  never  does  anything;  a  state  of  paralysis 
clogs  all  his  efforts.  The  most  active  men  have  been  men  of 
faith.     All  modern  discoveries  and  inventions  are  due  to  faith. 

Confidence  is  the  chief  condition  of  the  power  of  prayer; 
w^ithout  it  no  success  is  possible.  We  must  not  only  believe 
that  we  shall  receive  the  boon  requested ;  we  must  be  con- 
vinced that  we  have  it  already.  Religious  faith  goes  further 
than  profane  faith.  Before  asking  anything  from  His 
heavenly  Father,  Jesus  was  sure  of  obtaining  it;  He  acted 
as  though  He  had  received  it.  He  who  believes  not  only  shall 
have  life  everlasting:  he  actually  has  it  now. 

The  Christian  will  also  pray  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  While 
Christ  exhorts  His  disciples  to  pray  to  their  Father  in  heaven, 
He  asks  them  to  do  so  in  His  name.  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask 
of  the  Father  in  My  name,  He  will  give  it  unto  you;  "  though 
He  does  not  make  this  an  indispensable  condition  of  granting 
the  request.  In  other  cases  He  requires  only  faith,  or  con- 
formity to  the  Divine  will.  St.  Paul  recommends  prayer  and 
action  in  Jesus'  name.  The  Christian  Church  early  began  to 
pray  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  The  Gospels  actually  speak  of  a 
man  who  attempted  to  expel  demons  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 

In  going  to  see  any  one,  we  consider  it  advantageous  to  have 
a  recommendation  from  a  third  person ;  we  ask  for  a  letter 
of  introduction.  When  we  pray  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  we  place 
ourselves  under  His  protection,  under  the  care  of  One  Who 
lived  in  such  close  communion  with  God  that  He  considered 
Himself  His  son.  Who  but  Jesus  has  told  us  of  the  heavenly 
Father?  It  is  through  Him  that  we  have  access  to  God.  We 
must  also  beware  of  advancing  in  His  name  any  request  which 
Jesus  would  reject. 

After  all,  what  we  need  is  the  spirit  of  prayer,  which  enables 
us  to  live  in  close  communion  with  God,  continually  to  lay  on 
Him  our  cares  and  longings.  St.  Paul  exhorted  the  Thessa- 
lonians  to  pray  without  ceasing.  The  Christian  should  have 
continually  the  disposition  to  engage  in  meditation ;  his  heart 
should  incline  towards  God,  and  his  mind  towards  things  above. 
The  Christian  life  will  be  an  incessant  prayer  ascending  to 
heaven.  The  ideal  to  be  attained  is  communion  of  the  soul 
with  God,  blending  our  will  with  His.  Did  not  Jesus  say, 
"  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me  "  ? 


VII 

THE  GREATER  VENTURES 
OF  PRAYER 

BY 

J.  L.  E. 


VII 

THE  GREATER  VENTURES  OF  PRAYER 

He  who  is  ruled  by  the  senses  and  the  reason  seeth  nothing  in 
prayer,  and  beheveth  not  that  the  sound  of  his  voice  pene- 
trateth  beyond  the  walls  that  surround  him.  He  calleth  for  a 
sign  before  he  will  believe,  but  no  sign  can  be  given  him,  be- 
cause he  hath  closed  his  door  and  surrounded  himself  with  a 
shell  through  which  no  heavenly  ray  can  penetrate  to  illuminate 
the  darkness  within.  So  long  as  he  appealeth  to  the  five  senses 
for  light,  no  light  can  be  found ;  but  as  soon  as  he  looketh  with 
the  eye  of  faith,  he  makcth  a  channel  whereby  the  Divine  rays 
may  percolate,  opening  that  soul  unto  the  light.  The  agnostic, 
therefore,  can  neither  understand  nor  appreciate  the  Divine 
workings  of  prayer,  and  if  he  tries  to  explain  it,  he  says  that 
all  the  good  it  can  do  is  to  be  found  in  its  reflex  action  on  the 
mind  of  him  who  prayeth,  making  him  to  feel  good. 

Thou  who  exaltest  thy  wisdom  beyond  that  of  thy  fellows, 
the  intuition  of  the  whole  world  is  against  thee!  Thou  art 
blind  in  one  of  thy  faculties  and  canst  not  see!  I  will  not 
therefore  point  thee  to  the  wonderful  mechanism  of  the  uni- 
verse, in  which  every  part  moveth  in  such  perfect  order  and 
unison,  for  thou  readest  not  a  high  order  of  intellect  therein, 
an  august  Mind  that  hath  brought  it  into  being!  No!  T  will 
point  thee  to  what  thou  seest  not,  and  tell  thee  of  things  we 
know.  Thou  hast  not  the  first  qualification  for  prayer  and 
thy  judgement  is  of  no  value! 

To  the  seer  in  the  spirit  who  can  behold  the  workings  of 
prayer,  its  action  is  divinely  beautiful.  The  aspiration  of  the 
heart  riseth  in  a  clear  ray  of  light  through  the  heavens;  to  the 
first,  to  the  second,  to  the  third  heaven,  according  to  its  purity; 
and  that  ray  becometh  a  channel  for  the  Divine  influx  to  be 
poured  down  upon  the  waiting  soul.  How  beautiful  it  is  to 
see  those  bright  rays  of  prayer  rising  through  the  dark  grey 
aura  of  the  earth,  filled  as  it  is  with  so  much  sorrow  and  pain, 
so  much  hatred  and  strife,  helping  a  little  to  clear  the  atmos- 
phere, helping  still  more  when  the  Divine  radiance  streams 

183 


1 84  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

down  to  light  up  that  soul  with  its  brightness  and  to  kindle  its 
eternal  flame,  seen  in  the  halo  that  surrounds  the  saint.  To 
what  rapture  is  the  saint  on  bended  knees  lifted,  who  finds 
himself  enveloped  in  the  Divine  presence!  To  what  glory  is 
he  introduced  when  the  beatific  vision  bursts  upon  him,  and 
the  Master  Himself  is  seen  in  all  the  beauty  of  His  Divine 
Humanity,  clothed  in  His  robe  of  glory,  beaming  with  love 
upon  His  disciple,  pouring  Himself  out  with  heavenly  joy, 
yea,  giving  of  His  life  that  he  may  have  more  life!  Then 
may  that  soul  become  a  prophet  indeed  if  the  Master  hath 
aught  to  communicate  to  earth.  Such  advanced  states  of 
prayer  and  receptivity  are  attained  by  few,  yet  they  are  there 
for  those  who  seek  with  undivided  heart. 

How  is  it,  think  ye,  that  we  have  the  portrait  of  the  Master 
on  earth  painted  by  the  mediaeval  artists  of  the  Church  long 
after  He  Himself  was  crucified?  It  was  painted  from  vision 
—  yet  not  wholly ;  but  the  ideal  was  so  brought  down  to  earth 
and  set  upon  canvas  in  the  endeavour  to  shadow  forth  His 
Divine  Humanity  in  the  dull  pigments  of  earth.  How  is  it 
that  we  see  Him  portrayed  upon  stained  glass  windows  as 
the  glorified  Christ  pouring  down  streams  of  light  upon  His 
disciples,  who  are  kneeling  in  rapt  devotion  at  His  feet?  It 
is  because  of  the  experience  of  the  saints,  an  actual  fact  that  is 
set  upon  canvas  to  give  forth  its  inspiration  unto  the  multitude. 
The  records  of  the  ages  bear  witness  to  what  I  say;  yet  men 
ofifer  worship  ideally  as  to  One  afar  off,  and  when  He  draweth 
near,  they  are  astonished,  and  exclaim,  "  Wonderful !  Won- 
derful! "  even  they  who  were  fervent  in  prayer. 

Spoken  prayer  is  the  first  stage,  and  it  is  necessary  to  put 
our  aspirations  into  concrete  form,  for  we  are  told  to  ask, 
and  to  persist  in  asking;  but  that  prayer  is  incomplete  if  we 
rise  from  our  knees  whenever  it  is  over,  for  in  doing  so  we 
wait  not  for  the  answer.  What  wouldest  thou  think  if  a  man 
asked  thee  for  a  boon  and  immediately  turned  away,  waiting 
not  for  thy  reply?  Or  if  he  talked  so  volubly  that  thou 
couldest  not  get  a  word  in  edgeways? 

The  answer  to  prayer  is  the  Divine  radiance  poured  down 
upon  us,  and  we  should  wait  in  silence  to  receive  it,  uttering 
no  word,  thinking  no  thought,  but  steady  in  our  aspiration, 
opening  our  heart  to  its  flow  in  a  state  of  rapt  devotion,  or  at 
least  of  attention.  When  we  feel  it  and  sense  it,  we  shall  be  in 
no  hurry  to  turn  away  from  it.  The  fine  airs  breathed  from 
these  heavenly  realms  can  only  be  caught  by  a  mind  at  peace. 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        185 

When  we  become  confirmed  in  our  undivided  search  after 
God,  the  attitude  of  prayer  may  be  said  to  be  unceasing,  or 
at  least  the  answer  is  unceasing,  for  the  radiance  is  felt  all 
the  day  long  and  all  the  night,  even  though  we  be  not  kneeling 
at  the  Master's  feet.  And  if  thou  wouldest  wait  long  on  the 
Lord  thus,  support  thy  body,  that  the  strain  of  the  flesh  may 
not  interfere  with  the  aspiration  of  the  heart;  and  remember 
that  thou  must  be  receptive  ere  thou  canst  sense  the  radiance 
streaming  upon  thee,  and  still  more  receptive  ere  thou  canst 
feel  its  strength,  for  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ever  groweth 
from  more  to  more,  first  illuminating  us  externally  and  causing 
the  soul  to  burst  into  bloom,  and  ever  entering  deeper  and 
deeper  until  the  heart  itself  is  illuminated  with  His  wisdom 
and  His  light. 

Meditation  is  another  sweet  act  of  devotion  akin  to  prayer, 
which  helpeth  the  mind  to  rise  into  a  steady  state  of  waiting. 
It  consisteth  in  holding  some  loving  act  of  Jesus,  or  some 
sweet  saying  of  His,  and  pondering  thereon  until  the  mind 
resteth  in  it,  forgetful  of  itself.  This  act  of  devotion  may  be 
performed  at  any  time  and  in  any  position,  and  it  bringeth  unto 
the  devotee  the  same  answering  radiance  that  prayer  doth,  for 
it  is  a  communion  which  draweth  the  Master's  love  unto  His 
beloved,  and  tendeth  to  mould  the  heart  into  His  likeness. 
We  are  thus  opening  our  hearts  to  receive  Him  a  little  more 
fully ;  and  only  through  love  can  He  enter  and  draw  us  closer 
unto  Himself. 

Oh,  that  thou  couldest  understand  the  perfect  telepathy  of 
the  heavens,  whereby  the  unspoken  thought  of  the  heart  is 
wafted  to  the  throne  of  God;  or,  if  thou  wilt,  to  that  Omni- 
presence within  Whom  is  space,  to  Whom  there  is  no  distance. 
As  the  mind  of  man  is  conscious  in  ever}^  part  of  the  body, 
responding  to  the  slightest  touch,  so  is  God  conscious  through- 
out His  universe  as  the  great  all-embracing  Mind.  The  cry 
of  the  soul  ever  reacheth  His  heart,  and  gladly  doth  He  lavish 
His  blessings  upon  it. 

God  is  love,  and  creation  is  the  necessity  of  love,  that  love 
mav  have  an  object  to  pour  itself  into,  without  which  it 
would  surely  wear}^  in  its  solitude.  He  giveth  Himself  to 
each  child  of  His  love  to  use  as  w^e  will,  for  He  is  the 
Innermost  of  our  being,  on  Whom  our  individuality  is  built, 
and  we  must  necessarily  become  oblivious  of  our  first  estate 
to  become  another,  so  to  speak.  Therefore  is  the  Light 
veiled  in  the  deeps  of  matter,  and  w'e  begin  in  ignorance  as  a 


1 86  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

little  child,  falling-  many  a  time  before  we  can  walk.  Yet  the 
Love  Divine  waiteth  in  patience  till  we  come  unto  Him,  and 
then  in  the  joy  of  His  love  He  lavisheth  His  best  gifts  upon 
us,  and  taketh  us  even  into  His  joy  by  that  holy  will  of  love 
that  standeth  to  redeem  the  world. 

The  angels  in  heaven  have  their  work  to  do,  and  they  too 
pour  themselves  out  into  those  rays  of  prayer  in  the  fulness  of 
their  love,  still  helping  the  world  though  removed  therefrom, 
unmarred  by  its  sorrow  and  its  pain.  O  Holy  Love  Divine! 
even  unto  that  state  of  saintship  doth  prayer  lift  us  that  we 
may  become  co-partners  with  Christ  in  His  work  of  redemp- 
tion, entering  into  the  joy  of  His  love ! 

The  Omnipresence  of  God  hath  two  aspects.  His  indwell- 
ing presence  is  called  His  Immanence ;  and  some  who  are 
mystically  inclined  give  pre-eminence  to  that  truth,  and,  in- 
stead of  praying  in  words,  they  sit  down  and  concentrate  the 
mind,  trying  to  reach  the  Divinity  within.  But  we  must 
ne\Tr  forget  the  Transcendence  of  God,  which  ever  remaineth 
unlimited  by  His  Immanence,  even  as  the  sun  raying  forth  to 
fructity  the  earth  is  not  dimmed  or  diminished  in  his  glory 
thereby;  or  forget  that  the  Christ,  Who  is  the  manifes- 
tation of  God  to  men  and  one  with  the  Father  in  the  inner- 
most, is  not  only  immanent  but  also  transcendent  —  imma- 
nent in  His  Godhead,  not  in  His  Christhood  or  Masterhood 
in  the  unregenerated  soul  separated  from  God,  but  immanent 
as  the  basis  of  our  being,  transcendent  to  our  separated  con- 
sciousness, and  transcendent  in  the  universe  as  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter over  all  (John  i.  1-15).  We  come  to  know  Him  first  with- 
out, long  before  we  find  Him  within,  in  that  highest  state  of 
glorification  which  is  the  final  destiny  of  the  soul.  Many  enter 
into  this  search  believing  that  if  they  can  only  still  the  mind 
into  a  perfect  calm,  the  Divinity  within  must  necessarily 
manifest  itself,  arguing  that  being  cannot  become  non-being, 
and  that  one  or  other  consciousness  must  fill  the  vacuum  left 
by  the  total  cessation  of  thought.  Much  preparation  is  needed 
ere  that  can  happen;  and  that  is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
purifying  our  being  and  leading  us  into  a  state  of  higher  sensi- 
tiveness and  receptivity  as  we  wait  at  the  Master's  feet. 

When  that  silence  cometh  of  which  we  have  heard,  it  will 
come  after  many  a  storm  hath  swept  the  soul  bare.  It  will 
come  independent  of  any  action  of  our  wills,  for  it  is  the  work 
of  God,  not  of  ourselves.  It  is  the  stillness  of  the  whole  lower 
man  with  all  its  props  and  supports  knocked  away,  all  its  lower 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        187 

nature  laid  to  rest.  It  is  the  silence  of  the  death  of  self,  for 
only  then  can  the  mind  be  stayed  in  perfect  peace  in  which 
the  Higher  Self  may  manifest.  Long  and  difficult  is  the 
search  for  the  Unmanifest  thus,  for  the  whole  of  the  Christian 
path  of  progress  lieth  between,  with  all  its  joys  and  sorrows. 

This  method  of  seeking  is  good,  for  hath  not  the  Master 
said,  "  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  within  "  ?  And  if  the  seeking 
be  real  and  for  the  highest,  the  Master  will  respond,  pouring 
down  His  radiance  upon  the  seeker  and  opening  up  the  way 
for  Him  step  by  step.  Yet  it  is  far  better  to  hallow  the  seek- 
ing with  prayer  and  devotion,  and  to  dedicate  all  unto  His 
glory,  for  too  often  doth  the  natural  man  deceive  himself  and 
seek  for  some  gift  of  the  Spirit,  some  power  upon  the  way, 
while  making  believe  to  seek  after  God. 

Concentration  is  also  a  good  exercise  in  itself,  for  it  giveth 
the  will  power  over  the  mind  to  hold  it  in  check.  It  tendeth  to 
peace  and  slowly  but  surely  draweth  the  mind  away  from 
worldly  things. 

The  transcendent  consciousness  of  the  higher  cannot  mingle 
with  that  of  the  lower,  but  the  lower  can  be  opened  to  the  lower 
psychic,  the  first  heaven  of  the  three  spoken  of  by  St.  Paul 
in  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  giving  visions. 

The  higher  and  the  lower  can  never  mingle ;  there  is  no  room 
for  both !  Which  then  shall  disappear  ?  Pray  that  it  be  not 
the  former,  for  then  hath  the  man  lost  his  spiritual  soul  —  a 
tragedy  which  may  be  brought  about  even  while  he  liveth  on 
earth  by  persistence  in  evil. 

The  lower  consciousness  is  our  own  human  soul,  which 
manifests  in  and  through  the  body.  It  is  our  external  con- 
sciousness—  ourself  just  as  we  know  ourself  —  that  which 
remaincth  ourself  after  death;  and  the  higher  consciousness 
is  what  is  called  "  the  spirit  "  by  St.  Paul,  when  he  speaks 
of  "  spirit,  soul,  and  body."  The  spirit  here  meaneth  not  God 
but  a  ray  of  His  consciousness,  a  centre  of  His  Omnipresence, 
a  seed  of  His  Being  sown  within  the  field  of  matter,  veiled  in 
garments  of  heavenly  aethers,  which  hath  taken  on  our  identity 
and  is  destined  to  grow  into  the  likeness  of  its  Parent.  It  is 
our  Spiritual  Soul,  the  angel  within  us,  of  which  the  Master 
hath  said :  "  Take  heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little 
ones ;  for  I  say  unto  you  that  in  heaven  their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  It  is  the 
link  whereby  we  climb  unto  God  through  the  quickening  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  through  the  redeeming  power  of  the  Master. 


1 88  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Spirit,  soul,  and  body,  then,  are  one  being,  but  not  yet  one 
in  consciousness.  We  have  far  to  go  along  the  Christian  path 
of  progress  ere  we  can  pass  into  the  purity  of  that  transcendent 
consciousness.  It  is  not  that  which  psychologists  call  sub-con- 
sciousness, for  that  pertaineth  to  the  lower  human  soul,  which 
manifesteth  its  powers  more  fully  when  thrown  in  upon  itself 
in  the  hypnotic  sleep,  freed  from  the  sensations  of  the  body. 
That  is  rightly  called  "  ^2<&-consciousness,"  but  the  higher  is 
"  ^z^/'c'r-consciousness,"  and  manifesteth  only  high  and  heavenly 
things. 

How  great  the  calamity  if  that  consciousness  should  depart 
from  us!  How  strong  is  the  call  to  prayer!  How  strong 
the  call  to  come  unto  Christ,  that  He  may  save  us  from  so  great 
a  catastrophe!  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?  "  But,  thanks  be  to 
God,  if  such  an  one  even  at  the  eleventh  hour  should  come  unto 
Him  in  repentance,  he  shall  be  saved,  and  that  which  he  had 
lost  will  return  unto  him ;  for,  though  departed,  it  had  not  let 
go.  It  had  ceased  to  chide,  and  left  the  disharmony  behind, 
retaining  only  a  tiny  magnetic  connection,  a  forlorn  hope,  so 
to  speak,  that  the  sinner  would  yet  be  redeemed,  for  "  His 
mercy  endureth  for  ever." 

Must  the  human  soul  go  ?  When  I  use  the  words  "  the 
Old  Adam  "  it  is  a  purification  of  the  consciousness  that  is 
meant.  The  "  I  am  "  within  can  smoothly  and  unbrokenly 
make  the  transition  into  the  higher  consciousness  of  the 
Spiritual  Soul,  even  though  the  heart  should  bleed  and  break 
in  the  purging.  Then  and  only  then  hath  self,  the  Old  Adam 
within  us,  died  the  death,  to  trouble  us  no  more.  Love,  then, 
is  triumphant  within  us,  with  naught  to  mar  its  beauty !  The 
Master  must  have  had  this  in  His  mind,  as  well  as  that  higher 
state  of  Divine  union,  when  He  told  His  disciples  to  be  perfect 
even  as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect. 

Let  no  one  think  that  he  can  attain  unto  that  state  without 
the  Master's  aid.  For  all  advancement  of  the  soul  we  depend 
upon  Him,  without  Whose  atoning  sacrifice  no  salvation  is  pos- 
sible. The  Christian  life  is  a  progressive  one.  First  we  come 
unto  Christ  in  true  conversion,  and  receive  Justification  and 
Adoption ;  then  He  leadeth  us  on  through  Purification,  through 
the  waters  of  cleansing,  unto  Sanctification ;  then  on  unto 
Glorification;  the  soul  ever  expanding  and  growing  in  beauty 
under  the  influence  of  the  Divine  radiance.  Such  advance- 
ment cannot  be  obtained  except  at  the   feet  of  the  Master, 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        189 

bathed  in  the  rays  of  the  Divine  Sun,  cleansing  our  soul  from 
the  mire  of  earth.  Naught  can  we  do  but  give  Him  condi- 
tions to  work  upon.  We  can  only  receive,  ever  receive,  of 
the  fulness  of  the  Divine  love.  "  Without  Him  we  can  do 
nothing." 

We  can  constitute  ourselves  disciples  of  the  Master 
even  now  by  faith,  until  such  time  as  He  can  make  Himself 
known  unto  us,  until  such  time  as  we  can  behold  His  face, 
whether  in  this  life  or  in  the  life  to  come. 

What  manner  of  love  is  this  which  seeketh  entrance  into 
our  sinful  souls;  adopting  them  and  taking  them  into  His 
own  pure  consciousness ;  making  of  us  His  cross ;  bearing  our 
sins  in  that  closest  of  unions,  so  that  our  souls  may  be  cleansed 
in  His  purity  and  led  by  Him  up  the  Holy  Hill  of  God  through 
all  the  stages  of  the  Christian  life  until  He  and  we  become 
one  in  consciousness,  even  as  He  and  the  Father  are  one? 
We  have  but  to  come  unto  Him  to  have  the  wealth  of  love 
lavished  upon  us.  Christ  is  the  first  necessity  of  the  soul, 
and  whatsoever  knowledge  the  mind  seeketh  thereafter  will  be 
hallowed  unto  it.  All  knowledge  hath  its  place  and  value, 
but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  have  the  first  place,  or  all  is 
l)ut  vanity  to  the  soul.  What  goeth  in  at  the  ear  helpeth  no 
man  save  but  to  point  the  way ;  and  the  way,  the  Living  Way, 
being  found,  that  soul  whom  the  Master  dclighteth  to  honour 
will  be  filled  with  hea\enly  knowledge  undreamed  of  in  the 
earthly  mind. 

O  sweet  and  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Lord!  Thou  ever  abidest 
with  us;  Thou  never  leavest  us;  Thou  ever  pourest  Thyself 
out  upon  Thy  devotee  who  kneeleth  at  Thy  holy  shrine ! 

O  sweet  and  Holy  Spirit!  Thou  art  the  very  Breath  of 
God  breathed  upon  us;  Thou  soundest  on  the  inner  ear  as 
the  sweet  singing  of  the  sea-shell,  tuning  our  centres  to  respond 
to  Thy  higher  note;  rising  at  times  in  intensity  to  the  noise 
of  a  rushing  wind,  enveloping  us  in  Thy  presence  and  flooding 
the  heart  with  Divine  emotion ! 

O  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Lord!  Thou  inspirest  the  mind  with 
Thy  thought.  Thou  inflamest  the  heart  with  Thy  love;  and 
Thy  voice  is  the  voice  of  the  Master  when  Thou  speakest  unto 
Thy  beloved ! 

6  sweet  and  Holy  Spirit !  Thy  holy  fire  ever  burneth  within 
the  soul,  consuming  its  dross  and  purifying  it  in  the  furnace 
of  Thy  love! 

O  Holy  Spirit  of  God!  great  is  Thy  task;  wonderful  the 


190  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

miracle  Thou  workest  in  us;  worthy  art  Thou  to  be  adored 
by  Thy  children! 

O  Holy  Trinity  of  God!  manifestation  of  the  One  in  three 
aspects  in  the  creation  and  redemption  of  the  world!  Worthy 
art  Thou  to  be  worshipped  by  Thy  people! 

And  yet,  however  dear  they  become  —  these  sweet  hours 
of  contemplative  prayer  at  the  Master's  feet  —  they  are  not 
to  be  prolonged  unduly;  they  are  not  to  be  made  the  whole 
business  of  the  day.  We  are  here  to  do  good  works  as  well 
as  to  pray,  and  all  things  must  be  balanced. 

It  is  true  that  no  action  of  ours  can  of  itself  lift  us  out  of 
the  material  into  spiritual  consciousness,  nor  open  for  us  the 
spiritual  heavens  (for  there  is  progress  both  on  earth  and  in 
heaven,  else  would  there  not  be  at  least  "  three  heavens  "  and 
"  many  mansions  ")  ;  yet  "  faith  without  works  is  dead,"  and 
we  are  rewarded  by  the  Lord  according  to  our  deeds,  "  for 
whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap." 

Love  is  the  soul  of  faith,  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  all 
true  religion,  its  very  essence.  Religion  without  love  is  but 
a  matter  of  form,  and  expendeth  itself  in  mere  ceremony,  de- 
pending on  the  "  letter  "  and  discarding  the  "  spirit."  Love 
must  needs  manifest  itself  in  action  if  it  be  there;  and  he  who 
loveth  and  doeth  is  rewarded  with  the  power  to  love  and  to 
do  the  more;  and  he  who  loveth  not,  ever  grasping  for  self, 
receiveth  condemnation,  and  that  which  he  hath,  even  the  glory 
of  this  world,  is  taken  away  from  him,  and  he  is  poor  and 
miserable  indeed. 

This  is  not  the  doctrine  of  Salvation  by  Works,  for  works 
are  useless  to  the  soul  if  they  arise  not  out  of  love.  It  may 
be  called,  if  you  will,  "  Progress  by  Love,"  as  it  unfolds  step 
by  step  on  earth  and  in  heaven  —  love  to  God,  love  to  the 
Master,  and  love  to  man  —  and  these  loves  are  not  to  be  sepa- 
rated, for  they  are  one.  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto 
one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ve  have  done  it  unto 
me." 

Prayer  also  is  the  expression  of  that  love  seeking  its  ful- 
filment; at-one-ing  us  to  God,  at-one-ing  us  to  men,  at  the 
two  poles  of  being,  in  the  one  Holy  Spirit  of  Love.  As  our 
aspiration  soareth  upwards  unto  Him,  as  we  pray  for  His  bless- 
ing for  the  world,  we  are  identifying  ourselves  v^'ith  the  whole, 
and  so  far  as  we  succeed,  kind  actions,  good  works,  and  self- 
denying  service  follow  in  the  very  nature  of  love.  So  we  wor- 
ship and  serve  the  whole  Being  of  God  in  all  His  members; 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        191 

and  such  prayer  is  complete  in  itself  and  includeth  its  own 
answer,  with  the  God-given  power  of  accomplishment,  yet 
ever  within  the  limits  of  our  degree  of  receptivity  —  ours  and 
the  world's  —  but  ours   is  expanding  ever  as  we  pray. 

Wait,  therefore,  upon  the  Lord,  morning  and  evening,  and 
ask  His  help  and  guidance  as  often  as  ye  have  need  thereof 
in  the  heat  antl  stress  of  the  day. 

To  fulfil  the  religious  life  it  is  not  necessary  to  leave  the 
world,  to  shut  oneself  up  in  a  convent  or  a  monastery,  or  to  flee 
to  the  wilderness  for  peace;  but  rather  "to  be  in  the  world 
and  not  of  it,"  doing  our  duty  to  the  glory  of  God,  eliminating 
self. 

It  is  right  only  for  those  whom  the  Master  hath  called  to 
leave  the  world,  called  by  His  gentle  voice,  not  for  the  others; 
their  place  is  still  in  the  world,  helping  on  the  race.  Tf  ye 
should  think  that  ye  receive  such  a  call,  make  very  sure  that  it  is 
the  Master  Who  calleth,  for  other  voices  can  also  be  heard  — 
both  good  and  evil  (i  John  iv.  i)  ;  but  His  sheep  know  His 
voice  (John  x.  3,  4,  27).  We  are  servants  and  not  masters, 
and  our  duty  is  to  serve  the  whole  purpose  of  God  within  the 
sphere  of  our  ability  and  our  love. 

Activity  is  life;  inertia  is  death.  As  above,  so  below;  as 
below,  so  above !  All  are  happy  who  work  at  love's  behest. 
All  are  progressing  who  are  forgetting  self  in  the  service  of 
others,  be  it  in  their  daily  task,  their  business,  or  their  public 
w^ork,  if  all  be  hallowed  and  dedicated  by  prayer;  and  all  are 
meant  to  play  their  part  in  the  great  scheme,  not  in  self-will, 
which  is  sin,  but  in  unity  with  the  will  of  God,  which  is  love. 

How  easy  it  is  to  pray!  The  most  selfish  can  pray  and  re- 
main self-complacent.  And  yet  how  difficult  to  play  our  part 
in  the  great  scheme  of  service,  for  self  then  standeth  aghast, 
and  feareth  it  will  suffer  loss,  as  it  must  needs  do  when  love 
doth  manifest.  Yet  that  is  what  we  have  to  learn  in  every 
sphere  of  existence  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  even  to 
the  very  throne  of  God.  Truly  it  is  a  scheme  of  activity,  the 
activity  of  love! 

And  here  would  I  state  what  one  of  the  ancient  scriptures 
of  India  teaches  in  this  connection,  for  we  are  apt  to  look 
upon  that  country  as  the  home  of  asceticism,  where  men  retire 
from  the  world  and  become  recluses  in  the  jungle.  The  Laws 
of  Manu  deal  very  minutely  with  the  life  of  the  people.  The 
life  of  a  man  is  divided  into  four  stages,  and  duties  are  allotted 
to  each  stage. 


192  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

The  first  is  the  "  Student  "  stage,  in  which  the  youth  is 
directed  how  to  Hve  to  the  best  advantage  in  order  to  make 
him  noble  and  devout.  His  special  work  is  the  study  of 
the  scriptures  under  the  guidance  of  a  teacher. 

The  second  is  the  "  Householder  "  stage,  when  he  is  told 
to  enter  into  domestic  life,  so  that  he  may  fulfil  his  duty  to 
the  world  and  help  to  perpetuate  the  race.  He  is  told  to  enter 
into  some  business  that  is  not  harmful  to  any  one,  to  labour 
therein,  and  to  dispense  his  means  in  the  needs  of  his  family, 
in  hospitality  to  the  stranger,  and  in  charity  to  the  poor; 
ever  studying  the  scriptures  and  serving  God.  When  grey 
hairs  begin  to  appear ;  when  he  has  a  son ;  when  his  son  also  has 
a  son;  then  is  he  told  to  retire  from  business  and  let  his  son 
take  over  his  duties  and  enter  into  the  next  stage  of  life. 

The  third  stage  is  the  "  Dweller  in  the  Forest,"  and  his  duty 
now  is  to  wander  into  solitude,  to  sit  under  the  shade  of  the 
trees  of  the  forest,  and  meditate.  He  is  still  to  study  the 
scriptures,  and  to  help  the  world  by  prayer;  to  receive  from 
none,  but  to  give  to  all;  his  wife  may  accompany  him  if  she 
will.  He  is  not  thereby  cut  off  from  home  nor  the  bosom 
of  his  family,  and  home  is  still  his  headquarters. 

The  fourth  stage  is  the  "  Ascetic."  The  third  stage  leads 
naturally  into  this,  and  his  duty  now  is  to  abandon  all  worldly 
attachments,  all  worldly  goods,  and  to  wander  forth  into  the 
jungle  as  an  ascetic,  so  that  he  may  commune  with  God  the 
more  freely,  and  seek  Him  in  realisation;  yet  never  is  he  cut 
off  from  the  sweet  bonds  of  family  love,  and  his  family  may 
still  minister  to  his  wants  as  he  sits  in  his  little  hut  in  the 
shade  of  the  forest.  These  are  the  four  stages  of  a  whole 
life  spent  in  service  and  devotion,  prepared  for  from  youth 
upwards. 

And  now  it  is  said  that  if  he  should  enter  into  this  fourth 
stage  prematurely  without  having  passed  through  the  three 
previous  stages  and  fulfilled  the  duties  thereof,  he  goeth  down- 
wards —  which  meaneth  that  he  incurreth  sin,  seeking  his 
own  selfish  salvation  in  preference  to  fulfilling  his  duty. 

How  beautiful  the  world  would  be  if  that  law  were  generally 
obeyed!  How  lightly  would  the  world  sit  on  our  shoulders! 
It  is  not  practised  now  as  it  might  once  have  been.  As  the 
Avorld  is  to-day,  duty  seems  never  done,  and  it  needeth  even 
the  old  men  to  help  it  along.  The  call  is  to  be  in  the  world, 
but  not  of  it,  even  as  the  Master  hath  taught. 

We  ever  have  ourselves  to  offer  uRto  the  Love  Divine,  but 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES       193 

we  can  also  pray  fur  others.  Some  think  that  the  rays  of 
thought  in  that  case  l^y  straight  to  the  person  prayed  for,  and 
in  that  way  inlhience  him ;  and  that  it  is  enough  to  concentrate 
the  mind  on  him  whom  we  would  help,  without  any  form  of 
prayer  at  all,  sending  him  loving  thoughts  and  moving  him 
unto  good. 

But  there  is  more  in  it  than  that!  Telepathy  is  a  scientific 
fact,  no  doubt,  but  all  too  weak  to  bring  alx)ut  great  ends.  It 
is  true  that  when  we  pray  for  a  brother  we  connect  our  thought 
with  him,  and  that  a  ray  streameth  forth  unto  him,  but  we 
have  brought  God  into  it,  and  our  weak  ray  is  strengthened 
by  the  radiance  that  streameth  down  upon  us.  Therefore  it 
hath  a  power  which  our  own  unaided  thought  could  never 
have ;  and  through  us  in  that  way  our  brother  may  be  helped. 

It  is,  therefore,  a  good  practice  to  keep  up  the  connection 
after  our  prayer  is  finished,  by  holding  our  brother  silently 
in  the  mind  with  the  thought  of  blessing  him;  for  while  we 
wait  upon  the  Lord  in  the  spirit  of  prayer,  the  Divine  rays 
continue  to  flow  through  us  on  to  that  brother,  no  matter  how 
distant  he  may  be,  and  he  is  helped  thereby. 

The  Lord  loveth  to  pour  Llimself  down  upon  such  an  one, 
for,  in  giving  out  that  which  we  get,  we  ever  receive  the  more. 
In  this  way  we  are  used  as  the  bearer  of  the  answer  to  our 
prayer,  and  it  depends  upon  the  receptivity  of  our  brother  how 
much  he  will  receive  of  it ;  though  we  may  make  up  somewhat 
for  his  weakness  by  the  persistence  of  our  effort.  Thinkest 
thou  that  the  Lord  will  bless  where  we  take  no  pains  to 
bless?  Nay!  rather  through  our  atoning  pains  will  He  bless 
our  brother!  Let  us  help  in  this  way  the  poor  beggar  on  the 
street ;  let  us  draw  our  worst  enemy  unto  love !  This  is  also 
called  meditation,  but  a  meditation  doubly  blessed;  and  if  a 
number  will  meet  together  for  such  jirayer  of  blessing  or  of 
healing,  the  outflowing  power  will  be  increased. 

But  that  is  not  all;  for  if  our  prayers  be  persistent,  and 
God  seeth  fit  to  move  that  soul  more  strongly.  He  wnll  send 
an  angel  to  strengthen  him  in  that  which  he  hath,  and  to  draw 
him  unto  repentance,  if  he  will  be  drawn,  for  God  forces  no 
one.  Where  telepathy  alone  would  fail,  the  angel  will  suc- 
ceed if  he  findeth  any  good  response,  any  inner  desire  to  work 
upon. 

Yet  there  is  one  condition ;  for  he  who  would  save  souls 
from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  its  misery  and  bring  them  to  the 
Master's  feet  must  have  the  Master  with  him ;  he  must  make 


194  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  work  his  own.  Not  in  egotism,  but  in  unity  with  His 
holy  will  of  love,  he  must  feel  the  burden  of  souls  upon  his 
conscience,  and  pour  himself  out  in  the  compassion  of  his 
heart,  for  only  then  is  he  growing  into  the  likeness  of  his  Mas- 
ter; and  before  he  can  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high 
to  accomplish  his  work,  he  must  wait  much  upon  the  Lx^rd 
in  prayer;  for  the  Lord  favoureth  His  servant,  and  supporteth 
him  in  his  work,  making  him  also  a  partaker  of  His  joy. 

Some  believe  that  the  laws  of  destiny  are  so  immutably  fixed 
that  it  is  useless  to  pray.  It  is,  of  course,  the  hard  and  painful 
things  of  life  that  we  want  altered,  not  the  pleasant  things; 
but  the  Christian  must  bear  his  cross,  for  it  is  through  the 
hard  and  painful  things  of  life  that  the  soul  advances,  much 
more  than  through  its  joys,  and  we  cannot,  therefore,  cast 
them  aside  with  impunity. 

When  the  pilgrim  soul  setteth  out  in  real  earnest  to  leave  the 
world  for  the  heavenly  kingdom,  many  forces  arise  to  assail 
it;  many  powers  try  to  drag  it  back.  The  joy  which  the  soul 
used  to  feel  may  be  marred,  and  a  season  of  darkness  may 
come  upon  it.  But  let  the  soul  hold  fast  its  faith :  the  Master 
hath  not  left  it,  although  He  be  obscured  for  a  time  by  the 
cloud.  He  warned  us  of  this  when  He  said:  "Watch  and 
pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation." 

Overcloudings  of  the  mind  are  manifest  in  strange  and  un- 
accountable moods  which  take  possession  of  the  disciple, 
diverse  in  their  character  and  totally  at  variance  with  his 
own  sweet  disposition.  In  them  he  seeth  things  all  out  of  pro- 
portion, and  magnifieth  mole-hills  into  mountains,  trifles  into 
undeserved  importance. 

Truly  the  disciple  must  bear  his  cross,  and  brave  all  for 
Christ's  sake,  or  be  accounted  unworthy  of  Him.  But  only 
whilst  the  Old  Adam  liveth  have  temptations  any  power  over 
him.  When  self  is  dead,  there  is  naught  left  to  respond  unto 
them.  When  that  high  stage  is  reached,  then  will  the  whole 
being  be  bathed  in  the  peace  of  God.  Then  will  the  disciple 
become  as  a  little  child,  and  to  such  a  child  much  can  be  given. 
These  the  Master  had  in  view  when  He  said :  "  Of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

All  trials  work  for  our  good  by  disclosing  unto  us  our 
weak  points,  wounding  them  unto  death,  so  that  self  may  be 
overcome,  without  which  the  highest  blessings  cannot  be  given. 
They  teach  us  to  be  very  humble,  and  to  put  no  reliance  on  our 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        195 

own  strength,  but  only  on  that  of  the  Master,  through  Whom 
we  shall  overcome  even  unto  the  end. 

And  what  of  them  who  are  not  at  the  Master's  feet,  and 
who  seek  not  His  protecting  hand?  Many  of  them  are  in 
sad  plight.  Hell  is  begun  with  them  even  on  earth.  We  read 
in  the  Scriptures  of  the  casting  out  of  devils,  but  this  material 
age  has  drawn  away  from  the  thought.  Yet  evil  spirits  are 
ever  with  us,  and  they  can  work  their  will  on  men  the  more 
easily  because  of  the  very  disbelief  in  their  existence.  No  poor 
soul,  steeped  in  vice  and  in  crime,  but  hath  an  evil  spirit  urging 
him  on.  Not  one  hath  fallen  very  low  of  his  own  unaided 
will.  Let  him  but  take  the  first  step  on  the  downward  road, 
and  the  second,  and  the  third,  and  all  the  time  an  evil  spirit 
is  worming  his  way  into  him  and  dominating  his  will  until 
the  poor  soul  hath  no  power  left  to  free  himself,  even  if  he 
would.  If  the  poor  soul  only  beheld  his  tormentors  at  work 
upon  him,  he  would  flee  from  them  with  horror  and  disgust, 
and  cry  unto  the  Lord  to  save  him,  but  he  seeth  them  not,  and 
walketh  blindly  into  their  clutches.  How  oft  do  we  hear  of 
the  murderer  standing  horror-struck  at  his  act,  dazed,  and  not 
knowing  how  he  did  it,  because  it  was  another  will  that  dom- 
inated his  own  to  do  the  deed !  The  spiritual  man  fighteth 
against  such  tempters,  and  hath  no  part  with  them,  and  so 
there  is  storm  and  stress ;  and  yet  sometimes  he  falleth,  like 
David.  He  hath  to  overcome  many,  while  one  is  enough  for 
the  sinner  who  runneth  smoothly  along  with  him.  That  is 
the  power  that  must  be  overcome  in  the  conversion  of  evil- 
doers, for  there  are  two  wills  to  fight,  and  the  unseen  is  the 
stronger.  That  is  the  cause  of  backsliding  from  grace,  and 
only  prayer  availeth;  only  the  Lord  hath  power  to  cast  them 
out  and  to  endue  His  disciples  with  power  in  His  name. 

"  But  thou,  when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and 
when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in 
secret;  and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward 
thee  "  (Matt.  vi.  6).  They  who  are  mystically  inclined  inter- 
pret these  words  of  the  Master  as  the  closing  of  the  doors  of 
the  senses  upon  the  world,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  con- 
sciousness into  the  secret  place  within.  Well,  let  them  take  this 
meaning  from  it  if  they  will,  but  here  would  I  specially 
speak  of  its  literal  and  apparent  meaning,  and  the  value  of 
setting  apart  a  sacred  room  for  prayer  and  meditation,  for 
such  a   spot   daily  becometh   more  and   more  hallowed   and 


196  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

purified  by  the  Divine  influx  and  a  holy  influence  reacting  on 
the  devotee  and  helping  him  on. 

How  much  do  they  who  are  sensitive  feel  the  differences 
pertaining  to  places,  the  conditions  accumulated  in  them ! 
On  entering  a  home  of  hatred  and  strife,  they  feel  as  if 
torn  to  pieces,  while  a  home  of  love  and  of  prayer  uplifteth 
them  and  maketh  them  happy.  They  who  are  not  sensitive 
can  enter  either  with  impunity;  yet  the  effects  are  there,  and, 
though  unfelt  in  the  body,  they  impinge  upon  the  soul. 

It  is  a  great  spiritual  truth  that  we  cannot  really  help  a 
brother  unless  we  in  part  atone  for  his  sin  by  coming  down 
unto  him,  so  to  speak.  If  he  be  drowning  in  the  water,  we 
must  jump  in  beside  him  to  save  him,  and  take  on  his  con- 
dition of  cold  and  wet  and  of  shrunken  garments.  If  he  be 
wallowing  in  the  mire  of  sin  and  of  vice,  we  must  enter  his 
surroundings,  his  aura,  to  draw  him  out,  and  the  garments  of 
the  soul  will  be  soiled,  if  they  be  clean.  Life  itself  may  be 
spent  in  the  work.  If  it  be  an  angel  that  cometh  in  answer 
to  prayer,  he  will  suffer  in  feelings,  and  his  white  robe  will  be 
soiled  ere  his  work  of  mercy  be  accomplished,  and  doubtless, 
must  be  purified  by  the  Lord  ere  he  re-enter  his  heavenly  home ; 
but  the  more  he  helpeth,  the  brighter  doth  his  robe  become  by 
this  holy  cleansing,  this  Divine  influx  of  the  Lord,  for  that  is 
ever  the  law  of  service. 

Fasting  hath  a  use,  although  it  is  so  little  practised  in  our 
day.  It  maketh  the  body  more  sensitive  to  catch  the  fine  airs 
breathed  from  heavenly  realms,  more  open  to  respond  unto 
the  Spirit.  Often  in  that  utter  weakness  of  the  body  which 
precedeth  death  are  angels  of  heaven  beheld,  bringing  joy  and 
peace  to  the  departing  soul.  At  such  times  the  body  hath  been 
practically  fasting,  and  in  its  weakness  hath  become  very 
sensitive,  even  to  the  opening  of  its  psychic  vision;  but  that 
is  an  extreme  example  not  to  be  copied. 

Too  heavy  feeding  of  the  body  maketh  it  gross  and  more 
impenetrable  or  unresponsive  to  spiritual  vibrations,  material- 
ising both  body  and  soul :  while  fasting  hath  directly  the  oppo- 
site effect.  Therefore  it  is  that  special  seasons  of  prayer  have 
always  been  prepared  for  by  fasting,  so  that  the  highest  state 
of  receptivity  may  be  given  while  waiting  on  the  Lord  and  the 
highest  results  may  be  gained :  be  it  the  hearing  of  some 
heavenly  message,  or  the  seeing  of  some  heavenly  vision. 

Between  these  two  extremes  is  a  middle  course  that  should 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        197 

be  followed  by  the  devotee,  and  that  is  to  eat  lightly  at  all 
times;  for  we  habitually  over-eat  even  to  the  detriment  of  the 
body,  and  too  rich  a  diet  tendeth  to  inflame  the  lower  nature. 
The  holy  men  of  old  lived  on  the  scantiest  of  diet;  but  that  is 
natural  to  the  spiritualised  man,  for  his  organism  hath  become 
so  purified  that  he  needeth  little  of  the  coarser  foods  of  earth, 
and  is  supported  more  by  the  magnetism  and  the  elements  of 
the  air  and  by  the  spiritual  manna  poured  down  from  heaven 
upon  him. 

And  who  have  attained  unto  these  blessed  states  of  the 
Spirit?  Not  necessarily  they  who  preach  the  gospel,  for  oft- 
times  these  try  to  serve  two  masters.  Not  necessarily  they 
who  are  called  revival  preachers,  for  ofttimes  'tis  but  the  gift 
of  oratory  that  they  manifest.  Not  necessarily  they  who 
hear  voices  or  speak  in  tongues,  for  these  are  too  apt  to  make 
the  greatest  claims  to  that  which  they  do  not  possess.  Not 
they  who  are  egotistical  or  vain-glorious  in  their  work;  not 
they  who  think  they  are  doing  well  and  seek  recognition;  for 
these  are  filled  with  self. 

There  was  once  a  poor  man  who  toiled  hard  to  make  a  living 
for  himself  and  his  wife,  and  who  served  God  in  humbleness 
of  heart.  One  day,  they  were  surprised  beyond  measure  to 
hear  that  a  great  fortune  had  been  left  to  him  by  a  relative  who 
had  died.  The  wife  was  delighted  at  first,  for  it  seemed  to 
her  that  all  their  troubles  were  ended,  but  the  man  became  pen- 
sive and  thought  it  over,  and  then  he  said  to  his  wife:  "  We 
have  never  known  what  it  is  to  be  rich,  and  we  are  happy  in 
our  humble  way,  but  if  we  take  this  money  our  happiness  may 
fly.  Come,  let  us  ask  the  Lord  for  guidance  that  we  may 
know  what  to  do."  And  so  they  knelt  down  and  put  their 
case  before  the  Lord,  and  waited  in  all  reverence  for  some 
word  of  guidance,  and  the  word  came,  "  Found  an  orphan- 
age! "  They  arose,  overjoyed,  and  gave  all  for  that  purpose, 
keeping  not  a  penny  to  themselves.  They  were  tried  and 
tested,  and  not  found  wanting.  Surely,  they  had  true  hu- 
manity! 

Yet  there  is  a  humility  and  a  poverty  of  spirit  that  is  deeper 
far,  which  follovveth  the  dark  night  of  the  soul,  that  night  of 
deprivation  and  seeming  desertion  through  which  the  soul  has 
to  pass  that  it  may  be  purged  of  its  failings  and  weaknesses. 
In  that  night  it  feeleth  itself  to  be  utterly  unworthy  and  miser- 
able, and  a  deep  abiding  sense  of  hymility  corneth  upon  it,  not 


198  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

otherwise  attainable.  The  Master  must  have  had  such  in  His 
mind  when  He  said :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they 
shall  be  comforted." 

The  efficacy  of  prayer  is  proved  by  experience,  the  experi- 
ence of  many  throughout  the  ages,  the  experience  of  many  to- 
day. I  have  shown  thee  how  prayer  worketh  and  also  its 
fruits,  for  it  is  the  foundation  on  which  all  is  built.  Prayer 
with  its  consequent  communion  is  the  mainspring  and  love  is 
the  spirit  of  it  all.  Prayer,  devotion,  love,  emptying  of  self, 
these  are  interlinked,  yet  the  result  is  the  greatest,  the  death  of 
self  and  the  triumph  of  love;  yet  prayer  liveth  on,  and  the  New 
Man,  now  a  pillar  of  the  temple,  prayeth  for  all  below,  prayeth 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world. 

A  question  is  asked  by  many  to-day,  and  will  be  asked 
again  and  yet  again  :  "  H  God  liveth  and  reigneth  and  answer- 
eth  prayer,  why  doth  He  allow  evil  to  rage  triumphant  over 
the  earth  in  these  terrible  wars  of  ruin  and  of  death?  " 

What  is  taking  place  to-day  is  but  the  throes  of  a  new  birth. 
Hath  it  not  been  foretold  by  the  prophets  of  old  that  a  new 
age  will  dawn  upon  the  earth,  when  "  the  Lord  will  pour  out 
his  spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  our  sons  and  our  daughters  shall 
prophesy,  our  old  men  shall  dream  dreams,  our  young  men 
shall  see  visions  ;  and  also  upon  the  servants  and  upon  the  hand- 
maids in  those  days  will  he  pour  out  his  spirit  "?  How  could 
such  blessings  come  to  a  world  armed  to  the  teeth,  with  every 
man's  hand  turned  against  his  neighbour  in  the  competition  of 
life,  or  mid  the  mad  excesses  of  lust  and  pleasure  which  fill  the 
people's  hearts?  The  evil  is  man's  making,  and  the  clash 
of  arms  and  the  thunder  of  the  guns  are  but  clearing  the  air. 
The  social  organism  had  become  infected  with  a  deadly  disease, 
a  great  and  cancerous  sore,  and  the  diseased  body  is  trying 
to  throw  it  off  to  effect  a  cure,  though  it  may  suffer  and  die 
in  the  process.  The  purification  of  the  world  is  not  different 
from  the  purification  of  the  individual,  and  therein  lieth  the 
truth  of  both  the  mystical  and  the  historical.  But  there  is  no 
death,  and  they  who  have  been  dragged  into  the  vortex  and 
fallen  have  lost  nothing  by  their  sacrifice,  for  they  fall  but  to 
rise  again.  Not  one  among  them  amid  the  bursting  of  the 
shells  and  the  whistling  of  the  bullets  but  hath  cried  out  in  his 
heart  to  God,  even  if  he  never  cried  before.  The  maimed  are 
helped  thereby  to  give  up  worldliness  through  their  power  of 
enjoyment  being  lessened,  that  perchance  they  may  turn  their 


THE  GREATER  VENTURES        199 

thoughts  unto  heavenly  things,  and  come  unto  Christ  more 
emptied  of  self  "  that  the  works  of  God  may  be  made  manifest 
in  them,"  which  is  the  uUimate  explanation  of  all  suffering. 
The  world  is  not  much  to  him  who  suffers.  Suffering  is  the 
fruit  of  sin  —  our  own  and  the  world's,  of  which  we  are  part 
—  and  therein  it  containeth  its  own  cure,  and  bringeth  forth 
the  means  to  convert  it  into  virtue.  And  when  the  barbarity 
of  man  hath  gone  so  far  as  to  break  the  heart  and  extinguish 
ho|)e,  so  that  no  consolation  of  earth  or  heaven  can  move  it, 
and  it  sinketh  unto  death,  ofttimes  a  heavenly  angel  will  appear 
to  the  closing  eyes  with  new  hope  upon  her  lips,  saying: 
Sister,  arise!  The  Master  calleth  thee.  A  broken  and  a 
contrite  heart  He  will  in  no  wise  cast  out. 

It  is  the  sweeping  of  the  nations  that  thou  seest;  the  evil 
destroving  itself  that  thou  beiioldest;  and  when  these  times  of 
tribulation  have  passed,  and  the  Day  Star  ariseth  in  the  Orient, 
then  shall  all  these  things  of  which  I  have  written  become  the 
heritage  of  the  race  and  the  little  babies  about  to  be  born  shall 
be  prepared  for  it  with  open  vision;  and  then  even  these  ter- 
rible times  through  which  we  are  passing  shall  be  pointed  to 
as  a  witness  to  the  love  of  God,  and  His  guiding  hand  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  ever  turning  evil  into  good;  so  that  His  great 
plan  shall  not  suffer,  but  be  worked  out  unto  the  end. 

How  beautiful  w'ill  earth  be  then  when  the  windows  of 
heaven  shall  be  opened,  and  men  shall  behold  the  glory  of  the 
Lord ;  but  alas  !  the  Sunrise  is  not  yet.  A  wave  of  revival  will 
sweep  over  the  earth;  but  the  Sunrise  is  still  beyond. 

Let  us  pray,  even  as  a  little  child  at  its  father's  knee,  in 
the  full  simplicity  of  child-like  love  thinking  no  more  of 
wa3'^s  and  means,  but  leaving  all  unto  the  Love  Divine,  Who 
ever  blesseth,  and  only  blesseth ;  and  the  fruits  of  prayer  will 
be  ours,  and  they  will  grow  and  increase  until  we  don  the 
saintly  crown,  illuminated  with  the  light  of  heaven. 

Oh!  how  simple  is  prayer!  Only  to  w^ait  at  the  Master's 
feet !  He  doeth  all ;  we  do  nothing,  and  can  do  nothing,  and 
must  become  as  nothing,  ere  the  new  man  arise  in  the  place  of 
the  old ;  and  yet,  paradox  though  it  may  seem,  we  have  "  to 
work  out  our  own  salvation  "  (Phil.  ii.  12)  ever  rising  on  the 
ladder  of  love.  It  needeth  no  high  intellect,  no  deep  theology. 
These  but  pertain  to  the  carnal  mind,  and  it  must  sink  into 
nothingness  and  "  become  as  a  little  child  "  ere  the  transition 
can  be  made.     The  new  man  hath  an  intellect  of  his  own,  a 


200  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

heavenly  intellect  encompassing  both  the  heavens  and  the  earth ; 
and  the  Spirit  of  Truth  dwelleth  in  it,  and  naught  but  Truth 
remaineth !  "  Blessed  indeed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven !  Blessed  indeed  are  the  meek,  for 
they  shall  inherit  the  earth!  Blessed  are  they  that  do  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled !  " 


VIII 

UNDER  THE  GUIDANCE  OF  THE 
CHURCH 

BY 

The  Rev.  JEREMIAH  P.  MURPHY 

CHERUBUSCO,     NEW    YORK    STATE,    U.  S.  A. 


Nihil  obstat 

P.  S.  GARLAND 

CENSOR    LIBRORUM     (EXAMINER    OF     BOOKs) 

Imprimatur 

H.  GABRIELS 

EPISCOPUS    OGDENSBURGENSIS 


VIII 

UNDER  THE  GUIDANCE  OF  THE 
CHURCH 

Prayer  is  man's  first  duty  to  his  Maker.  It  is  his  sole 
resource  and  consolation  in  trial  and  aflliction.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Holy  Spirit,  "  Prayer  is  the  entire  man." 
"  Watch  and  pray  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation  "  and 
"  Men  ought  always  to  pray  "  are  Divine  rules,  teaching  us 
the  sacred  duty  of  prayer,  the  need  and  the  time  for  prayer. 
We  learn  from  them  by  the  unerring  truth  of  God's  own 
word  that  prayer  is  a  shield  against  temptation,  and  that  we 
are  never  without  this  means  of  defence.  Remembering  our 
origin,  our  nature,  our  w^ants,  our  environment,  we  must  see 
that  prayer  is  absolutely  necessary  in  this  life  of  misery,  this 
"  valley  of  tears,"  if  we  would  win  eternal  life  with  God  in 
heaven.  All  the  forces  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil 
seem,  as  it  were,  leagued  with  our  natural  corruption,  our  in- 
nate w^eakness,  to  seduce  us  from  the  path  of  virtue,  and  decoy 
us  from  our  duty  by  the  siren  voice  of  temptation,  against 
which  the  call  of  God,  like  the  voice  of  a  loving  father, 
warns  us. 

The  chief  duty  of  a  Christian  is  that  of  prayer.  The  true 
Christian  should  be,  like  Christ,  a  man  of  prayer.  He  should 
understand  its  nature  and  necessity,  its  efficacy,  and  when  and 
how  to  pray.  The  duty  and  the  necessity  of  prayer  have  been 
outlined.  That  our  prayers  will  be  heard,  that  they  wnll  avail, 
that  we  shall  get  what  we  ask,  or  at  least,  what  we  need  —  in 
a  word,  that  our  prayers  will  be  efficacious,  we  have  the  un- 
failing promise  of  our  Divine  Lord  Himself,  if  only  we  pray 
after  the  manner  He  lays  down.  He  has  taught  us  the  nature 
or  the  kind  of  prayer  that  pleases  Him.  The  Christian,  there- 
fore, who  does  not  pray,  is  blind  to  his  own  interest,  is  deaf 
to  the  fond  invitation  of  the  Divine  Jesus,  is  a  stranger  to  the 
sw^eet  consolations  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  is  worse  than 
an  unbeliever. 

The  Church  has  defined  prayer  as  spiritual  intercourse  or 

203 


204  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

communion  with  God.  It  is  a  humble  elevation  of  the  soul 
and  heart  to  God,  to  the  end  that  we  may  adore  Him,  praise 
His  holy  name,  declare  His  goodness,  and  render  Him  thanks 
for  His  benefits.  It  is  also  a  humble  petition  to  God  for  all 
the  necessaries  of  soul  and  body.  It  is  neither  a  secret  nor 
a  science  to  be  learned  from  men.  It  is  a  duty  in  which  we 
are  instructed  in  our  hearts,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  only 
master  who  can  teach  it. 

The  qualities  of  prayer  we  learn  from  the  words  of  Jesus 
to  penitent  sinners,  from  the  Lord's  Prayer,  from  the  grand 
prayers  and  hymns  in  the  worship  and  Liturgy  of  the  Church 
which  have  come  down  during  all  the  centuries  of  the  Church's 
history,  and  from  the  models  of  true  prayer,  ofifered  by  those 
in  favour  of  whom  Christ  granted  health,  or  grace,  or  pardon. 

Prayer  must  be  offered  with  attention,  devotion,  and  re- 
spect. Common  courtesy  requires  attention  and  respect. 
We  would  not  insult  a  friend,  much  less  a  governor,  a  presi- 
dent, or  a  king,  by  any  inattention  or  disrespect  when  craving 
a  boon.  In  prayer,  we  appeal  to  One  Who  is  more  than  a 
friend ;  we  pray  to  our  Lord  and  Creator  and  Redeemer,  hold- 
ing converse  with  the  Almighty  —  the  King  of  kings. 

Other  essential  qualities  are  humility,  sincerity,  and  perse- 
verance. Prayer  must  also  be  heartfelt  and  constant.  "  God 
humbles  the  proud,  and  gives  grace  to  the  humble"  (James 
iv.  6).  "He  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  humbled,  and  he 
that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted"  (Matt,  xxiii.  12)  is 
the  decree  of  God  on  this  point.  "  These  people,"  says 
Christ,  speaking  of  the  Pharisees,  "  honour  me  with  their  lips, 
but  their  hearts  they  keep  far  from  me  "  (Matt.  xv.  8).  Our 
whole  life  belongs  to  God,  as  well  as  our  heart.  Our  whole 
time,  all  that  we  have,  are  gifts  of  God.  Hence  our  prayers, 
like  those  of  Christ  and  His  faithful  servants,  must  be  con- 
stant, persevering.  He  prayed  night  and  day;  He  fasted 
and  prayed  in  the  desert  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights  in 
preparation  for  His  Mission,  even  as  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai 
when  God  delivered  to  him  the  Ten  Commandments.  He 
prayed  in  the  Garden  of  Olives,  while  His  disciples  slept,  in 
that  agony  of  prayer  in  which  He  bedewed  with  blood  from 
His  sacred  body  the  very  ground  on  which  He  lay.  He 
chose  Peter  to  be  His  vicar.  His  successor  and  mouthpiece. 
His  spokesman,  His  ambassador  to  the  world  of  men,  after  He 
should  have  gone  to  His  Father  —  His  supreme  pastor,  clothed 
not  only  with  "  all  His  power,"  like  the  other  Apostles,  but 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  205 

with  all  His  authority  to  teach,  define,  and  decide  for  His 
Churcli  "  till  the  consummation  of  the  world,"  and  to  "  feed 
both  His  lambs  and  His  sheep  " — priests,  bishops,  and  people 
—  and  said  to  him :  "  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  Peter,  that  thy 
faith  may  not  fail"  (Luke  xxii.  32),  "I  give  to  thee  the 
keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven"  (Matt.  xvi.  19).  To  the 
same  Peter  He  said,  "  Feed  my  lambs;  feed  my  sheep  "  (John 
xxi,  15-17).  He  prayed  while  hanging  on  the  cross  for  His 
very  murderers  and  for  us  all :  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do  "  (Luke  xxiii.  34).  They  knew 
not  that  He  was  the  "  Messiah,"  the  promised  Saviour,  We, 
though  we  know  Him  to  be  our  Lord  and  Saviour  and  Re- 
deemer, crucify  Him  afresh,  as  it  were,  every  time  we  commit 
sin,  and  yet  He  prays  for  us,  as  He  prayed  for  His  execu- 
tioners :  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  He  has  also  said :  "  He  who  perseveres  to  the  end  shall 
be  saved"  (Matt.  x.  22).  With  good  reason,  then,  is  there 
in  the  Church  a  world-wide  organisation  known  as  "  The  Apos- 
tleship  of  Prayer."  All  its  members  make  what  is  called  the 
"  morning  offering."  This  consists  in  offering  up  to  Almighty 
God,  with  their  morning  prayers,  all  their  future  thoughts,  and 
words,  and  works  of  each  day.  Thus,  every  thought  and 
word  and  act  becomes  a  perpetual  prayer,  already  consecrated 
to  the  service  and  glory  of  God  when  it  comes  to  pass. 

Prayer  can  be  considered,  in  its  relation  to  the  Individual, 
to  the  State  or  Nation,  and  to  the  Church. 

I.  Prayer  in  its  Relations  to  the  Individual 

Considered  as  a  personal  duty  of  each  individual,  we  may 
distinguish  vocal  and  mental  prayer.  The  best  and  grandest 
models  of  vocal  prayer  are  found  in  the  Gospels  of  Christ. 
The  best  and  grandest  of  all  is  the  "  Lord's  Prayer."  It  tells 
us  what  to  ask  for,  and  how  and  when  to  ask  for  what  we 
need  and  desire.  It  tells  us  that  God  is  a  Father,  "  Our  Father 
in  Heaven."  It  at  once  inspires  us  with  a  motive  of  trust  and 
confidence.  A  loving  all-powerful  Father  will  hear  and  help 
His  needy  children.  "  Thy  Kingdom  come  " —  rule  and  reign 
in  our  hearts,  regulate  them  as  their  King.  "  Thy  will  be 
done."  This  is  but  the  putting  to  practical  service  the  lesson 
of  Christmas-night  —  the  joyous  prayer  of  the  Angels  over 
the  crib  at  Bethlehem,  the  message  of  the  new-bom  Saviour: 
"  Glorv^  to  God  in  the  highest,  and,  on  earth,  peace  to  men  of 


2o6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

good  will"  (Luke  ii.  14).  Our  will  must  bow  and  conform 
to  the  Divine  Will.  We  must  seek  the  Will  of  God,  in  every- 
thing. Our  will  must  be  His  Will;  we  must  be  "men  of 
good  will."  All  our  prayers,  vocal  or  mental,  civil  or  re- 
ligious, should  breathe  the  aspiration  "  Thy  Will  be  done." 
We  should  never  forget  that  His  message  of  peace  was  prom- 
ised only  to  "  men  of  good  will."  In  this  day  of  almost  uni- 
versal war  —  war  that  has  become  rather  butchery  and  car- 
nage —  men's  minds  should  be  brought  to  God,  and  attuned 
to  the  aim  and  spirit  of  the  "  Lord's  Prayer "  and  to  the 
message  of  the  Prince  of.  Peace:  "Peace  on  earth  to  men  of 
good  will."  The  warring  nations  must  cancel  their  greed, 
their  hatred,  their  jealousy,  and  their  lust  for  both  military 
and  naval  supremacy,  or  there  can  be  no  peace.  Their  peoples 
must  become  "men  of  good  will"  if  they  hope  to  raise  the 
standard  of  peace.  It  is  because  men  and  nations  fall  away 
from  God,  and  their  people  no  longer  practise  the  principles  of 
faith  in  the  Prince  of  Peace  —  the  principles  of  honesty  and 
justice  and  fair  dealing  to  all  men  and  nations,  great  and  small 
—  that  nations  plunge  into  war,  which,  among  Christian  men 
and  nations,  should  be  considered,  as  it  is,  a  relic  of  bar- 
barism. 

"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  This  teaches  the  duty 
of  daily  or  constant  prayer.  As  we  need  our  food  daily,  so  it 
becomes  a  daily,  a  constant  duty  to  pray  for  it.  "  Forgive  us 
our  sins,  as  we  forgive  those  who  sin  against  us."  As  we  all 
are  sinners,  so  our  prayers  should  always  include,  like  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  a  petition  for  pardon  and  for  mercy. 

The  prayer  of  the  man  in  the  parable  who  came  to  ask  for 
a  cure  of  his  sick  servant  is  another  model  of  a  perfect  vocal 
prayer.  After  Christ  hears  him  relate  the  severe  illness  of 
his  servant,  He  promises  him :  "  I  w\\\  come  and  heal  him." 
The  man  answers  :  "  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldst 
enter  under  my  roof,  but  only  say  the  word,  and  my  servant 
shall  be  healed"  (Matt.  viii.  8).  So  great  was  the  faith 
manifested  in  these  words  that  our  Lord  said  to  him:  "Go 
thy  way,  thy  servant  liveth."  So  great  are  these  words  as  a 
model  prayer  that  the  Church  repeats  them  daily  on  her  altars 
in  the  Liturgy  of  her  worship.  God  is  pleased  to  be  called 
upon  by  His  rational  creatures,  and  should  we  not  be  most 
irrational  not  to  "  call  upon  God,"  as  He  tells  us  to  do,  "  when 
He  is  near  " ;  for  has  He  not  also  said,  "  Without  me  you  can 
do  nothing?  "  (John  xv.  5).     He  is  honoured  by  this  prayerful 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  207 

homage  and  the  confidence  in  His  goodness  which  daily  prayer 
inspires  and  expresses.  He  will  reward  it,  as  He  has  prom- 
ised, by  bestowing  on  us  what  we  pray  for,  or  what  He  sees 
we  most  need. 

A  great  American  once  declared  that,  to  win  success  in 
freedom's  fight,  "  Eternal  vigilance  was  the  price  of  victory." 
To  pray,  therefore,  is  not  enough.  Jn  God's  plan,  His  warn- 
ing is  "  to  zvatch  and  pray,"  to  avoid  temptation  and  to  win 
victory  over  the  powers  of  evil.  The  last  principal  c|uality  of 
all  prayer,  whether  individual,  civic,  public,  or  religious,  is 
earnestness.  When  we  pray  we  must  be  in  earnest,  like  the 
true  soldier,  like  the  vigilant  statesman  and  patriot.  There 
must  be  no  trifling,  no  Pharisaism,  for  the  Scripture  warns 
us:  "Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked."  We  must  put 
soul  and  heart  into  our  prayers. 

Mental  prayer  is  an  act  of  the  mind  by  which  we  converse 
or  commune  with  Almighty  God.  Meditation  and  contempla- 
tion are  the  usual  modes  of  mental  prayer.  There  are  religious 
orders  of  monks  and  nuns  who  observe  a  rule  of  silence  and 
practise  mental  prayer  day  and  night.  Such  are  the  Order  of 
the  Trappists  and  the  Contemplative  Orders.  They  dwell  in 
thought  on  God  and  holy  things.  To  economise  space,  I  will 
cite  but  one  instance  or  example  of  a  grand  exponent  of 
mental  prayer,  but  a  remarkable  as  well  as  an  illustrious  one. 
I  refer  to  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  great  scholar,  scientist, 
philosopher,  and  the  most  profound  theologian  of  his  age 
or  of  any  age.  He  has  been  given  by  the  Church  the  titles 
of  the  "  Angelic  Doctor  "  and  the  "  Doctor  of  the  Schools." 
He  was  versed  and  read  in  every  science.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  more  learned  works  than  any  other  scholar  of  his 
time.  One  day,  when  asked  from  what  book  he  had  learned 
the  most,  he  answered  that  "  he  had  learned  more  from  medi- 
tation before  the  Cross  of  Christ  than  from  all  the  books  he 
had  ever  read  and  studied  in  his  whole  life." 

Prayer  must  be  offered  with  faith  in  God ;  otherwise  men 
cannot  pray,  for  how  can  they  call  upon  Him  in  Whom  they 
have  not  believed  ?  Prayer  also  increases  our  charity,  for  fre- 
quent communion  w'th  God  in  prayer  impels  us  to  more  burn- 
ing love  and  a  truer  worship  of  God.  The  soul,  aflame  and 
purified  by  prayer,  is  rendered  worthv  of  the  blessings  and 
gifts  of  God  received  from  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  gives  us 
powder  to  live  clean  lives,  for  it  inspires  a  love  of  innocence,  and 
God  blesses  the  clean  of  heart.     The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 


2o8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

breathes  blessings  on  all  the  virtues  which  are  the  fruit  of 
prayer  in  the  virtuous.  The  eight  Beatitudes  have  been  a 
lamp  to  the  feet  of  the  faithful  down  all  the  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era. 

II.  Prayer  in  its  Relations  to  the  State 

Christ  tells  us :  "  Wheresoever  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,"  (Matt, 
xviii.  20).  Hence  public  prayers  by  a  multitude  in  common 
are  most  pleasing  to  Him.  We  have,  therefore,  civic  prayers 
on  appointed  days  named  by  civil  rulers,  such  as  governors  of 
States,  presidents,  and  kings.  Dominion  day  is  such  an  occa- 
sion in  Canada,  Thanksgiving  day  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
King's  birthday  in  the  British  Empire.  Such  rulers  also  order 
days  of  public  prayer  in  time  of  war,  pestilence,  and  calamity. 
Prayers  for  peace  have  been  ordered  in  Europe  and  America 
by  Pope  Benedict,  the  head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
the  Bishop  of  Rome.  In  fact,  they  have  been  ordered  and 
offered  in  all  the  Catholic  churches  of  the  whole  world  daily, 
by  clergy  and  people,  since  the  very  beginning  of  the  present 
devastating  war  in  1914.  All  such  civic  or  public  prayers 
ought  to  have  the  same  essential  qualities  and  motives  as  indi- 
vidual prayer.  Never  was  a  time  more  opportune  than  the 
present  for  united,  earnest,  persistent,  universal  prayer. 
Never  was  there  more  need  of  such  union  and  pressure  of 
prayer  than  now.  Pope  Benedict  XV.  has  the  right  and  the 
authority  of  the  God  of  peace  and  war.  Whom  he  represents,  to 
call  on  rulers  and  nations  to  cease  from  a  fratricidal  strife 
which,  if  permitted  to  go  on  indefinitely,  must  become  a  mis- 
fortune to  all  the  human  race.  As  the  spiritual  common 
Father  of  all  nations,  it  is  not  only  his  right  but  his  duty  to 
expend  himself  in  an  effort  to  save  the  children  of  God  from 
famine,  decimation,  and  possible  extermination.  Not  only  has 
he  ordered  prayers  for  peace,  but,  in  addition  to  the  memorable 
prayer  for  peace  in  the  Church's  Repository  of  Prayers  —  the 
'Missal,  and  in  the  Mass  for  peace  ordered  by  the  Church  al- 
ways to  be  said  in  time  of  war,  he  framed  a  special  prayer, 
which  he  sent  to  be  recited  by  priests  and  people  in  the  churches 
of  the  whole  world.  In  this  prayer  Pope  Benedict  prays,  and 
orders  all  to  pray,  that  God  may  put  it  in  the  minds  of  the 
rulers  of  all  the  nation?  ^t  W^r  tO  come  together;  to  settle  their 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  209 

differences  amicably  and  justly  to  all  concerned;  to  conclude  a 
lasting  peace,  and  quickly  to  cease  the  awful  strife  that  is 
blasting  and  desolating  the  warring  nations  and  bringing  death 
and  destruction  to  so  many  millions  of  God's  children.  This 
prayer  has  been  recited  daily  by  priests  and  people  in  all  the 
churches  and  chapels  of  convents,  colleges,  and  institutions 
throughout  the  Catholic  Church,  in  every  country  under  the 
sun,  every  day,  one  to  ten  and  more  times  a  day,  according  to 
the  number  of  priests  and  religious  services  in  each  church  and 
chapel,  since  the  beginning  of  the  war;  for  Pope  Benedict  did 
not  wait,  but  from  the  first  outbreak  of  war  in  1914  he  has 
not  ceased  to  beseech  the  rulers  to  make  peace,  and  all  his 
spiritual  Hock  to  pray  without  ceasing  for  peace.  Oh,  what 
a  bombardment  of  the  throne  of  the  God  of  peace  by  prayer! 
Who  shall  say  that  Benedict  XV.  has  not  been  in  earnest? 
Who  can  say  that  his  is  not  the  timely,  reasonable,  impartial 
prayer,  as  it  should  be,  of  a  father  on  behalf  of  his  warring 
children  ? 

In  answer  to  the  ten  days'  prayer  of  the  Apostles  the  Holy 
Ghost  descended  in  the  form  of  tongues  of  fire  —  symbols 
of  their  future  mission.  Fired  with  the  seven  gifts  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  giving  them  the  courage  that  transformed  them 
on  the  spot  —  uneducated  fishermen,  and  till  now  craven 
cowards,  with  "barred  doors,"  for  fear  of  the  Jews  —  into 
heroes  of  faith,  into  apostles  of  knowledge  and  of  devotion 
and  of  wisdom,  they  went  forth,  commissioned  .by  Christ, 
under  the  Divine  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  baptize;  to 
teach  the  nations  of  every  people,  tribe,  and  tongue;  to  cure 
and  heal  and  pardon;  to  "  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 

We,  too,  by  the  aid  of  prayer,  private  and  public,  and  the 
reception  of  the  Holy  Ghost  with  His  seven-fold  gifts  of 
wisdom,  understanding,  counsel,  fortitude,  knowledge,  piety, 
and  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  in  the  great  Sacrament  of  Confirma- 
tion, may  also  become  apostles  of  light  and  strength  and  faith 
to  our  fellowmen. 

Thus  is  prayer  the  ground-work  of  all  progress  in  the  service 
of  God.  To  know  and  love  and  serve  God  in  this  world  in 
order  to  possess  Him  and  His  reward  in  the  next  is  our  mission 
and  supreme  duty  in  life.  Prayer  will  teach  us  this  duty,  as 
on  it  all  spiritual  advancement  and  success  is  built.  This  the 
lives  and  history  of  the  Saints  through  all  the  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity teach  and  prove.     The  Church  and  the  Scriptures  make 


2IO  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

us  repeat  the  prayer  with  faith,  and  in  the  hope  of  attaining 
some  degree  of  holiness :  "  Blessed  be  God  in  His  angels  and  in 
His  saints." 

Prayer,  finally  —  private  and  public,  or  in  union  with  the 
Church  and  her  worship  —  is  the  seed  of  all  virtue,  the  well- 
spring  of  God's  saving  grace;  and  all  will  readily  accept  the 
truth :  Virtue  is  the  choicest,  richest  ornament  of  every  Chris- 
tian's life. 

How  many  say  that  God's  decrees  are  fixed  and  immutable, 
and  it  is  useless  to  pray,  for  He  will  not  change  them.  God  is 
immutable  and  the  Bible  states  that :  "  In  Him  there  is  no 
change,  or  shadow  of  alteration."  When  we  pray,  we  do  not 
ask  or  expect  God  to  change  His  eternal  decrees.  Nor  can  we 
measure  time  in  Him  as  with  us.  In  Him  there  is  no  past,  no 
future,  only  the  living,  eternal  present.  When  the  Jews  said  to 
Jesus:  "  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  hast  thou  seen 
Abraham?"  He  answered:  "Amen,  amen,  I  say  to  you. 
Before  Abraham  was  made,  I  am"  (St.  John  viii.  57-59). 
Even  in  the  grammar  of  the  words  He  uses,  He  proclaims  the 
eternal,  living  present:  "I  am."  "Ego  sum  qui  sum,"  He 
says  in  another  place  (I  am,  who  am).  Hence,  He  sees  and 
hears  our  prayers  eternally.  They  are  ever  eternally  before 
His  mind  in  making  Plis  eternal  decrees ;  and  He  shows  His 
Divine  mercy  to  all  when  they  offer  prayers  pleasing  to  Him. 

God  Himself  made  prayer  an  express  condition  of  obtaining 
His  favours  and  His  blessings  and  promised  to  hear  the  prayers 
of  His  children  and  to  grant  what  they  ask  for  or  most  need. 
He  even  commanded  all  to  pray  as  a  sacred  duty  "  without 
ceasing." 

The  great  writer  Origen  wrote  a  learned  treatise  on  prayer 
in  which  he  says  :  "  He  prays  '  without  ceasing  '  who  combines 
prayer  with  the  duties  he  has  to  perform  and  who  makes  his 
actions  accord  with  his  prayer.  The  entire  life  of  a  holy  man 
can  thus  be  one  continuous  prayer.  He  can  pray  *  without 
ceasing,'  though  only  a  portion  of  each  day  is  given  to  prayer 
strictly  so  called,  but  which  ought  to  be  practised  not  less  than 
three  times  a  day,  as  we  learn  from  the  example  of  Daniel  " 
(vi.  10,  13).  We  can  and  ought  to  pray  always,  and  such 
prayer  is  useful,  after  receiving  God's  favours,  for  example, 
when  the  blessed  rain,  or  the  favour  for  which  we  ask,  comes. 
At  least,  then,  in  gratitude  we  should  thank  God  in  prayer, 
and  such  prayers  are  pleasing  to  God,  always  remembering  the 
ten  lepers  whom  Christ  cured,  only  one  of  whom  returned  to 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  211 

thank  him  after  He  bade  them:     "  Go  show  yourselves  to  the 
priest." 

This  is  our  answer  to  all  sceptics  and  infidels  when  they  ob- 
ject to  prayer. 

HI.  Prayer  in  its  Relations  to  the  Church 

The  next  division  of  our  subject  will  treat  of  prayer  in  its 
relation  to  the  Church  established  by  Christ,  her  ritual  and 
worship. 

A  proper  conception  of  religion  embraces  the  natural  and 
the  supernatural.  This  takes  in  the  natural  and  moral  law  and 
all  revealed  knowledge  of  God  communicated  to  man.  I  as- 
sume this  paper  is  intended  for  Christians  who  do  not  deny  the 
supernatural.  The  supernatural  does  not  destroy  the  natural, 
but  presupposes  it.  The  Church  of  Christ,  as  a  supernatural 
religion,  embraces  the  natural  as  a  necessary  supposition  and 
foundation.  The  universe  and  its  complex  system  of  forces, 
with  their  order  and  beauty,  the  unchangeable  laws  and  move- 
ments of  the  planets,  proclaim  the  fact  that  there  is  a  God. 
For  a  law  must  have  a  law-maker ;  an  effect  must  have  a  cause. 

Religion  teaches  obligation  —  to  know  God  and  to  love  and 
serve  Flim.  The  first  lesson  in  religion  teaches  us  a  duty.  As 
Creator  and  loving  Lord,  God  requires  from  man  adoration 
and  worship.      Prayer  is  the  ground-work  of  worship. 

The  first  recorded  assembly  of  the  Church  of  Christ  for 
prayer  in  common  is  the  "  persevering  in  prayer "  of  the 
Apostles  in  the  "  Upper  Room  ''  in  Jerusalem,  between  the 
Ascension  of  Christ  and  Pentecost.  They  put  in  practice  His 
advice  :  "  Wheresoever  two  or  three  are  gathered  in  my  name, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  We  find  in  practice,  from 
the  very  infancy  of  the  Church,  the  recitation,  in  common,  of 
the  Divine  Oflfice  by  the  clergy,  known  in  later  ages  and  now 
as  the  "  Breviary,"  also  called  the  "  Canonical  Hours."  The 
name  Breviary  or  Compendium  was  adopted  after  the  Church 
in  her  Councils,  for  necessary  reasons,  shortened  the  Office. 
"  Canonical  Hours  "  was  a  term  given  it  because  the  Church 
fixed  the  time  for  its  recitation.  Also  she  added  Offices  for 
new  feasts,  or  for  new  saints,  as  in  time  these  lived,  died,  and 
became  canonised,  as  recorded  in  the  Canons  of  her  Councils. 
The  Office  was  recited  in  the  Churches,  and  the  Church  adopted 
the  practice  from  the  custom  of  the  Jews  of  that  time  coming 
together  for  prayer  in  the  Synagogue.     It  took  centuries  be- 


212  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

fore  the  Breviary  was  written  and  completed  as  we  have  it 
now.  Its  history  embraces  four  periods.  The  first  was  from 
the  birth  of  Christ  to  Pope  Damasus,  in  the  fourth  century; 
the  second,  from  the  fourth  century  to  the  reign  of  Pope  Greg- 
ory the  Seventh,  in  the  eleventh ;  the  third,  from  the  eleventh  to 
that  of  Pius  the  Fifth,  in  the  sixteenth;  while  the  fourth  period 
reaches  from  the  sixteenth  century  to  our  own  time.  Through 
this  term  of  centuries  can  be  traced  the  origin,  completion,  and 
revisions  of  the  Canonical  Office  or  the  "  Hours  "  of  Prayer. 
The  final  revision  was  one  of  the  last  acts  of  the  late  Pontiff, 
Pius  X.  The  Mass  and  the  Canonical  Hours  have  always 
been  part  of  the  public  service  of  the  Church.  In  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  mention  is  made  of  the  third  and  the  ninth 
"  Hours  "  specially.  In  the  first  four  centuries,  all  the  com- 
ponent parts,  or  '*  Hours  "  of  the  Office,  are  found.  They 
derive  their  name  from  the  hours  of  the  day,  when  each  was 
ordered  to  be  read  by  the  Church.  First  comes  "  Matins  and 
Lauds,"  Matins  from  matutinus  (French,  matin,  morning). 
"  Lauds  "  is  derived  from  the  word  laiis,  praise.  The  Psalms 
of  praise  mostly  make  up  this  part:  "Hills  and  mountains, 
praise  the  Lord!  Sun  and  Moon,  praise  the  Lord!  All  ye 
Stars,  praise  the  Lord!  "  etc.  This  part,  or  these  two  Hours, 
go  together,  and  were  recited  at  night  ending  at  first  cock-crow. 
Down  the  ages  some  monks  got  up  from  their  beds  at  midnight 
to  recite  this  part.  "  Prime  "  follows,  from  the  word  prima, 
the  first  hour  or  six  o'clock.  "  Terce  "  next,  from  tertia,  the 
third  hour,  or  nine  o'clock.  "  Sexte  "  follows,  from  sexta, 
the  sixth  hour,  or  twelve  noon.  Then  "  None,"  from  nona, 
the  ninth  hour,  or  three  o'clock  p.m.  In  the  afternoon,  come 
"  Vespers,"  from  vesper,  evening.  Another  part  was  finally 
added,  "  Compline,"  to  complete  the  Office.^  Morning  and 
evening  prayers  usually  went  with  the  Office.  This  Office  had 
a  Common  and  a  Proper  part.  The  Proper  was  for  the  Saint, 
or  the  Feast  of  the  day,  the  Common  for  the  time,  etc.  There 
are  four  Books,  or  Volumes,  one  for  each  of  the  four  seasons 
of  the  year  —  Winter,  Spring,  Summer,  and  Autumn.  This 
Office  begins  with  the  "  Lord's  Prayer  "  ;  then  come  the  "  Ave 
Maria"  (Hail  Mary)  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  followed  by 
Versicles  from  the  Scripture,  a  hymn,  etc.  Three  sets  of 
Psalms   next    follow,   called   Nocturnes.     With   each   set   of 

1  The  Jewish  day  embraced  twelve  hours,  beginning  at  sunrise  or  six  o'clock  of  our 
day,  and  ending  at  six  p.  M.  "  Prima  (hora),"  first  hour  was  sunrise,  or  six  o'clock 
of  our  day. 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  213 

Psalms,  or  Nocturn,  are  read  three  lessons,  with  responses,  etc. 
Those  of  the  first  are  usually  selected  from  the  Old  Testament; 
those  of  the  second  usually  from  the  Fathers  of  the  Church, 
or  the  I'east,  and  those  of  the  third  Nocturn  from  the  New 
Testament.  The  "  Te  Deum  "  ends  Matins  ("  Holy  God,  we 
praise  Thy  Name  ").  The  other  "  Hours  "  have  their  psalms, 
etc.,  a  hymn  and  a  prayer,  correspondini^"  with  the  Saint,  or  the 
Feast  of  the  time.  After  the  hymn  for  Vespers,  the  "  Mag- 
nificat," the  grand  "  Canticle  "  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  is 
sung — her  outpouring  of  gratitude  (after  her  answer  to  the 
Salutation  of  the  Angel,  "  Be  it  done  unto  me  according  to  thy 
word  ")  for  being  selected  to  be  the  Mother  of  the  Saviour: 
("My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord!  And  my  spirit  hath  re- 
joiced in  God  my  Saviour!  Because  he  hath  regarded  the 
humility  of  his  handmaid:  for  behold,  from  henceforth,  all 
generations  shall  call  me  Blessed!  Because  he  that  is  mighty 
hath  done  great  things  for  me :  /\nd  holy  is  his  Name !  And 
his  mercy  is  from  generation  to  generation :  to  them  that  fear 
him,"  Luke  i.  46  ff. ). 

This  is  an  outline  of  the  Office  only,  embracing  the  sub- 
stance of  it.  Now,  while  those  who  could  read  were  chanting 
or  reciting  this  Office  in  the  meetings  for  prayer  in  the  churches, 
the  vast,  unlettered  multitudes  were  accustomed  to  be  present; 
and  they  recited  the  prayers  of  that  other  grand  devotion  of  the 
Church,  the  "  Rosary  "  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  They  learned 
the  prayers  by  heart,  taught  by  the  priests.  These  prayers  con- 
sisted of  the  "  Apostles'  Creed,"  the  "  Lord's  Prayer,"  re- 
peated, and  repetitions  of  the  "  Hail  Mary,"  the  Angel's  Salu- 
tation to  her,  and  of  the  "  Holy  Mary,"  etc.,  "  Pray  for  us,"  the 
Church's  prayer  to  Mary,  asking  for  her  prayers  on  our  behalf. 

In  the  Office  one  hundred  and  fifty  Psalms  are  recited.  For 
each  Psalm  the  people  said  one  "  Ave  "  and  one  "  Holy  Mary." 
With  each  ten  "  Aves  "  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  said.  Fifteen 
sets  of  these  decades  of  ten  Aves  each  made  up  the  whole  devo- 
tion; making  one  hundred  and  fifty  repetitions  of  the  "Ave 
Maria,"  etc.,  matching  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  Psalms,  with 
fifteen  repetitions  of  the  "  Lord's  Prayer."  "  Glory  be  to  the 
Father,"  etc.,  followed  each  decade.  Saint  Dominic,  in  his  day, 
added  mental  prayer  to  this  devotion ;  and  spread  it  through  the 
whole  Church.  He  taught  them  to  propose  a  fact,  called  a 
mystery,  for  meditation,  from  the  life  of  Jesus  or  His  Virgin 
Mother.  He  assigned  three  sets  of  mysteries,  of  five  each, 
for  the  fifteen  d^ades  of  the  Rosary;  five  for  the  Joyful,  five 


214  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

for  the  Sorrowful,  and  five  for  the  Glorious  Mysteries.  The 
Joyful  are :  The  Annunciation,  the  Visit  to  St.  Elizabeth,  the 
Nativity  of  Christ,  the  Presentation  of  the  Child  for  Circum- 
cision in  the  Temple,  and  the  Finding  of  the  Child  at  the  Age 
of  Twelve  in  the  Temple,  disputing  with  the  Doctors.  The 
Sorrowful  Mysteries  are:  The  Prayer  or  Agony  in  the  Garden, 
the  Crowning  with  Thorns,  the  Trial  before  Pilate,  the  Carry- 
ing of  the  Cross  to  Calvary,  and  the  Crucifixion.  The  Glo- 
rious Mysteries  are :  The  Resurrection,  the  Ascension,  the  De- 
scent of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pentecost  upon  the  Apostles,  the 
Assumption  into  and  the  Crowning  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in 
Heaven.  Thus,  for  centuries,  the  Church  taught  the  millions, 
unable  to  read,  these  vocal  prayers,  meditating  on  these  Bible 
facts  and  scenes  at  the  same  time;  while  the  Office  was  being 
read  or  chanted.  In  the  same  way  the  devotion  of  the  "  Way 
of  the  Cross  "  was  taught. 

The  Church  first  taught  and  fostered  the  grand  arts  of 
sculpture  and  painting,  and  then  taught  the  unlettered  multi- 
tudes to  read  and  learn  the  history  of  the  Passion  and  Cruci- 
fixion of  Christ,  etc.,  by  looking  at  the  masterpieces  of  painting 
and  sculpture  representing  these  Bible  scenes  around  the  walls 
of  the  church,  and  praying  vocally.  In  the  same  way,  the  great 
productions  of  Michael  Angelo,  of  Raphael,  of  Murillo,  etc. — 
the  Annunciation  of  the  Angel,  the  Birth  in  the  Stable,  the 
Visit  of  the  Magi,  the  Last  Supper,  the  Last  Judgement,  the 
Crucifixion  —  represented  and  taught  these  historic  scenes,  and 
were  as  familiar  to  the  millions  who  never  read  history  or  a 
book  as  were  their  prayers.  And  how  written  so-called  history 
has  tortured  this  into  "  adoration  of  pictures,"  and  has  belied, 
calumniated,  and  misrepresented  the  Church ;  for  it  is  she  that 
thus  really  and  effectually  taught  the  Bible,  for  generations  on 
generations,  to  millions  and  millions  who  could  not  read  at  all. 
Nor  were  there  Bibles  for  them  on  account  of  the  cost  of 
hand-made  books  in  the  ages  before  printing  came  into  use. 
Only  Macaulay  is  found  to  do  her  justice,  in  his  famous  pas- 
sage "  The  New  Zealanders,"  that  tells  but  the  truth :  "  Thou 
hast  conquered,  Galilean !  "  Not  in  vain  did  Cobbett  also 
write :  "  Oh,  Englishmen,  how  we  have  been  deceived !  " 
Even  nowadays,  in  English  and  American  non-Catholic  homes, 
as  also  in  others  the  world  over,  we  find  copies  of  "  The 
Angelus,"  of  "  The  Madonna,"  etc. 

In  Protestant  Christianity,  John  Wesley,  though  an  Anglican, 
originated  the  idea  of   "  Method  "    (and   earned   the  name 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  215 

"  Methodist."  at  first  a  college-boy  nickname)  in  his  meetings 
with  kindred  pious  spirits  during  his  Oxford  days.  It  was 
his  wont  to  meet  with  these;  to  i)ray  and  sing  hymns  on  holi- 
days and  at  other  times,  when  football  and  cricket  were  the 
recreations  of  other  less  serious  students.  It  was  the  Meth- 
odists who  gave  us  the  modern  "  prayer  meeting."  Cardinal 
Newman's  "  Lead,  kindly  light,"  given  to  the  world  while  he 
was  yet  an  Anglican  Protestant,  is  a  soul-inspiring  hymn,  a 
prayer  that  will  be  immortal.  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee  " 
is  another  Protestant  hymn  that  will  last  while  the  world 
endures. 

An  impartial  examination  cannot  but  convince  the  sincere 
inquirer  that  the  Church  of  Christ,  worthy  of  her  founder,  is 
the  grandest  institution  known  to  man.  She  is  grand  in  her 
doctrine,  in  her  sacraments,  in  her  prayers,  in  her  liturgy,  in 
her  worship.  The  other  great  liturgical  works  of  the  Church, 
besides  the  "  Breviary,"  are  the  "  Missal,"  the  "  Ritual,"  and 
the  "  Pontifical."  The  latter  contains  the  great  prayers  for  all 
the  blessings  reserved  for  the  bishops,  for  the  consecration  of 
priests  and  bishops,  of  churches,  of  altars,  of  oils  for  the  year 
for  the  use  of  the  priests,  in  the  adminstration  of  Baptism  and 
of  the  Sacrament  for  the  dying,  for  bishops'  use  in  confirma- 
tion, and  for  the  ordination  of  priests  and  the  consecration  of 
bishops  and  churches.  The  Preface  for  the  consecration  of  a 
bishop  is  said  to  be  so  sweet  and  tender  that  its  equal  can  be 
found  nowhere  in  the  world.  The  "  Ritual  "  contains  all  the 
rules  for  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  prayers  for 
all  the  blessings  given  by  the  priests,  from  the  blessing  of  holy 
water  to  that  of  a  new  house  or  a  new-born  infant  —  so  rich 
is  the  Ritual,  a  very  treasure-house  of  blessings  for  the  people! 
The  prayers  for  the  sick  are  most  consoling;  those  for  the 
dying  and  the  dead  are  pregnant  with  comfort  and  hope.  The 
"  Exultat  angelica  chora  " — "  Rejoice,  ye  angel  choirs  " — 
for  the  blessing  of  Easter  water,  and  the  Paschal  candle  on 
Holy  Saturday,  lift  the  soul,  as  it  were,  to  the  presence  of  those 
choirs.  The  "  Missal  "  is  the  Mass-book,  and  it  is  from  the 
Missal  w^e  learn  the  exalted  grandeur  of  the  worship  of  the 
Church.  Space  permits  me  to  give  only  a  mere  glance  at  this 
book  of  the  Liturgy.  But  before  treating  it.  it  is  essential  to 
refer  brieflv  to  one  more  form  of  public  church  prayer,  the 
grandest  oif  all  except  the  Mass,  which  may  be  called  the 
"  Praver  of  Prayers." 

We  have  established  in  the  Church,  since  the  davs  of  its 


2i6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Founder,  the  "  Communion  of  Saints."     It  is  proclaimed,  and 
comes  down  to  us  in  the  "  Apostles'  Creed."     "  I  believe  in 
the  communion  of  saints,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  the  resurrec- 
tion  of   the  body,    and   the   life  everlasting.     Amen."     The 
Church  teaches  that  the  "  Communion  of  Saints  "  means  that 
the  "  faithful,  by  their  prayers  and  good  works,  assist  each 
other."     She  teaches  that  there  are  three  classes  of  these  saints, 
and  makes  three  divisions  of  the  "  Church  of  Christ " —  the 
Church    Triumphant    (the    saved    in    Heaven),    the    Church 
Militant     (the    living    members     on     earth,     like    soldiers, 
battling  to  win  salvation),  and  the  Church  Suffering  in  Purga- 
tory (those  who  have  not  satisfied  by  sufficient  penance  for 
the  temporal  punishment  due  to  God  for  their  sins).     These, 
in  one  vast  union  of  prayer  going  on  continuously  night  and 
day,  never  ceasing,  petition  and  pray  for  pardon  and  mercy. 
All  the  glorious  Litanies  in  use  in  the  Church,  like  the  "  Litany 
of  the  Saints  "  and  the  "  Litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary," 
are  made  up  of  a  succession  of  earnest  appeals  to  each  one  of 
them,  by  name,  by  the  leader  or  reader  of  the  Litany ;  and  the 
one  response  of  all  who  join  in  this  grand  devotion  to  each 
saint  named  is  "  Pray  for  us."     Only  in  the  "  Litany  of  Jesus  " 
(and  the  "  Litany  of  the  Sacred  Heart  ")  to  Whom  we  pray 
directly,  is  the  response  "  Have  mercy  on  us."     Oh,  how  this 
grand  devotion  has  been  misrepresented  and  misunderstood! 
At  the  Siege  of  Antwerp  in  the  present  war,  the  rain  of  deadly 
shot  and  missiles  from  the  giant  death-dealing  guns  was  so 
deadly,  so  rapid,  so  unceasing,  so  crushing,  so  irresistible,  that 
the  besieged  had  to  run  to  cover,  and  Antwerp  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  almost  without  resistance.     Imagine  all 
the  myriads  of  the  angels  of  God,  of  the  Saints  —  justified 
and  gone  to  God  —  since  the  days  of  Adam  and  Eve,  with  the 
Blessed   Virgin   Mary,   their  crowned   queen,   at  their  head. 
Imagine  all  the  faithful  on  earth,  members  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  uniting  their  prayers  to  those  of  the  saints  and  angels 
and  the  appeals  of  the  suffering  souls  in  that  temporary  state 
of  punishment  for  lesser  sins  and  lesser  guilt  beyond  the  grave, 
and  you  have  the  true  scriptural  and  reasonable  meaning  of  this 
rational  and  consoling  dogma  of  the  Church,  taught  us  by  that 
venerable  "  Creed  "  of  the  "  Apostles."     Oh,  what  a  power- 
ful pressure  of  prayer  on  the  throne  of  mercy  and  pardon! 
Only  a  cruel  and  a  tyrannical  God  could  refuse  pardon  and 
mercy  to  so  titanic  a  bombardment  of  united,  earnest,  reason- 
able prayer !     The  very  Jews  virtually  practise  this  saving  mode 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  217 

of  giving  aid  to  their  departed  dead,  and  participate  in  the 
"  Communion  of  Saints."  In  2  Maccabees  xii.  43,  46,  we 
read :  "  And  making  a  gathering  [a  collection],  he  sent  twelve 
thousand  drachms  of  silver  to  Jerusalem  for  sacrifices  to  be 
offered  for  the  sins  of  the  dead,  thinking  well  and  religiously 
concerning  the  resurrection.  For  if  he  had  not  hope  that  they 
that  were  slain  would  rise  again,  it  would  have  seemed  super- 
fluous and  vain  to  pray  for  the  dead  that  they  may  be  loosed 
from  their  sins."  This  was  Judas  Maccabaeus,  their  leader, 
who  after  divers  victories  over  his  enemies  ordered  sacrifices 
and  prayers  for  his  dead  soldiers. 

It  remains  now  to  treat  of  the  Missal  and  the  Mass,  and  the 
prayers  offered  in  the  grand  succession  of  Masses  of  each 
year.  The  Missal  is  the  Book  containing  the  Masses  for  all 
the  Feasts  of  the  Church  through  the  year.  The  Feasts  are  of 
our  Lord,  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  Saints,  principally,  the 
Masses  for  the  dead,  the  Votive  Masses  for  bride  and  groom, 
for  peace,  etc.,  etc.  The  Missal  also  is  a  great  storehouse  of 
the  gems  and  masterpieces  of  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  of  the 
Fathers  and  the  scholars  of  the  Church,  and  of  our  long, 
unbroken  line  of  Popes,  down  from  her  first  Pontiff,  Peter, 
the  Prince  of  the  Apostles  and  Vicar  of  Christ.  It  also  con- 
tains the  grand  Prefaces  of  Christmas,  of  the  Epiphany,  of  the 
Feasts  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of  the  Cross,  of  Lent,  of  Easter, 
of  the  Ascension,  of  the  Trinity,  and  of  the  Apostles,  etc.  All 
of  these  breathe  the  beauties  and  dogmas  of  these  glorious 
Feasts  of  the  Church;  many  of  them  containing  the  teaching 
and  doctrines  of  the  Church,  the  teaching  of  heretics,  pointing 
out  the  exact  belief,  and  condemning  all  error.  This  is  espe- 
cially noticeable  in  the  Preface  of  the  Trinity,  the  Unity  of  the 
Divine  Essence  in  the  one  God;  in  the  distinct,  separate  per- 
sonality of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  in  the 
Trinity  of  Persons.  There  are  no  grander  or  more  inspiring 
models  of  song  and  prayer  than  the  Prefaces  of  the  Missal. 
The  Missal  also  contains  those  beautiful  models  of  belief,  of 
poetry,  and  of  prayer  —  the  hymns  appropriate  to  the  various 
Feasts  and  Masses,  composed  and  left  to  us  from  the  earliest 
ages  by  the  scholars,  Fathers,  and  saints  of  the  Church.  The 
one  for  Pentecost  has  already  been  noted :  "  Consolator  Op- 
time!  Dulcis  Hospes  Animae,  Dulce  Refugerium,"  "Oh,  best 
of  Consolers !  Sweet  Guest  of  the  Soul,  Sweet  Refuge  and 
Rest."  Those,  whose  author  was  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  are  all 
grand  masterpieces  of  composition,  of  doctrine,  of  song,  and  of 


2i8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

poetry.  Among  the  choicest  are  the  "  Lauda  Sion  "  and  the 
"  Pange  Lingua,"  in  honour  of  the  Eucharist,  by  St.  Thomas, 
the  last  stanza  of  which  is  the  "  Tantum  Ergo  Sacramentum," 
sung  at  Benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament;  the  "  Te 
Deum  ";  the  "  Adeste,  Fideles,"  for  Christmas;  the  "  Victima 
Paschahs,"  for  Easter;  the  "Salve,  Regina  "  and  "  Stabat 
Mater,"  in  honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin;  "Jesus,  Dulcis 
Memoria,"  in  honour  of  Jesus;  "  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus,"  in 
honour  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  the  "  Dies  Irae,"  in  the  Mass  for 
the  Dead,  for  funerals;  and  "  O  Crux,  ave  Spes  Unica!  "  (Hail 
Cross,  our  only  hope!),  for  Good  Friday  and  Holy  Week. 
The  Mass,  in  fine,  is  the  great  act  of  worship  in  the  Church. 
It  is  the  worship  of  Sunday,  on  account  of  which  the  Church 
changed  the  day  of  worship  —  the  Sabbath  —  in  the  Old  Law 
to  Sunday  in  the  New,  and  on  account  of  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ  on  Easter  Sunday.  The  Mass,  therefore,  is  the  centre 
and  ground-work  of  all  prayer  and  worship  in  the  Christian 
Catholic  Church. 

A  careful  search  will  reveal  that  every  prophecy  recorded  in 
the  Old  Testament  relating  to  Christ  was  fulfilled,  as  well  as 
those  in  the  New  Testament  made  by  Christ  Himself.  Mal- 
achi,  over  four  hundred  years  before  Christ  was  born,  proph- 
esies :  "  I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
and  I  will  not  receive  a  gift  at  your  hands ;  for,  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  even  to  the  going  down,  my  name  is  great  among 
the  Gentiles,  and  in  every  place  there  is  sacrifice,  and  there  is 
offered  to  my  name  a  clean  oblation ;  for  my  name  is  great 
among  the  Gentiles,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts  "  (Mai.  i.  lo,  1 1 ). 
Now,  as  every  prophecy  has  been  fulfilled,  this  has  been,  this 
must  be  fulfilled.  Where?  When?  I  claim  that  you  may 
search  in  vain  all  the  religions  of  the  world;  in  vain  you  may 
search  all  the  men-made  religions  of  the  denominations ;  you 
can  find  this  prophecy  fulfilled  in  none  of  them.  It  was  not 
fulfilled  before  Christ;  He  was  the  subject  of  it.  I  claim  that 
it  is  fulfilled  in  the  Mass,  and  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  "  From 
the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down."  What  does  that 
mean? 

Until  the  days  of  the  great  astronomers  men  believed  that  this 
globe  was  flat.  Astronomers  tell  us  that  it  is  round  and  re- 
volves every  twenty-four  hours.  They  teach  that  it  takes  the 
sun  apparently  so  many  minutes  of  time  to  travel  one  degree  of 
longitude  in  its  course  from  east  to  west,  and  that  the  reason 
of  its  appearing  to  rise  in  the  east  and  set  in  the  west  is  the 


GUIDANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH  219 

turning  of  the  eartli  daily  un  its  axis.  Now  it  takes  a  priest 
one  half-hour  to  say  a  Low  JMass.  Take  the  priests  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  as  a  starting-point  —  but  first  be  it  known  that 
the  Mass  is  not  only  Sunday  worship;  every  priest  must  say 
his  Mass.  if  possible,  every  day  in  the  week,  every  day  of  his 
life  that  he  is  able,  under  strict  obligation.  Let  the  priests  of 
Boston  start  their  Mass  at  a  certain  hour  —  say  at  sunrise. 
Half  an  hour  later  the  priests  —  say  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  518 
miles  to  the  west  —  begin  theirs  as  the  priests  of  Boston  finish. 
Still  a  half-hour  later  the  priests  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  begin 
theirs  as  the  Coluni1)US  priests  are  finishing;  while  all  the 
priests  in  the  churches  in  the  intervening  towns  and  villages  are 
Ijeginning  and  ending  Mass  a  half -hour  earlier  or  later  accord- 
ing to  their  position  on  the  map,  518  miles  apart.  Go  from 
Kansas  City  to  Denver,  from  Denver  to  a  line  on  the  boundary 
of  Utah  and  Nevada;  then  on  to  San  Francisco;  from  there  to 
Honolulu,  through  the  islands  of  the  sea,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  on  and  on  through  Europe  and  Syria,  and 
through  the  watery  worlds  back  to  Boston,  and  we  have  sun- 
rise again.  Not  only  every  priest  in  every  church  in  every 
parish,  but  every  priest  on  every  altar  in  every  church  and 
con\-ent  and  college  and  monastery  and  chapel,  where  a  number 
of  priests  are  located,  is  found  saying  Mass  as  the  sun  goes 
on  its  course  daily  towards  the  west  from  Boston,  round  the 
globe  back  to  Boston  again.  Not  only  this,  but  there  are 
found  lines  and  ranks  of  priests  (like  the  ranks  of  soldiers  on 
the  march)  on  lines  of  altars  in  the  opposite  direction,  from 
pole  to  pole,  saying  Mass,  as  the  sun  travels  in  his  course  over 
them,  or  as  the  world  turns  them  eastward  in  its  daily  revolu- 
tion, as  it  were  on  a  succession  of  belts  of  altars,  a  distance  of 
half  an  hour  apart  of  the  time  of  the  sun  in  its  daily  course 
round  the  world,  so  that  the  sun  never  sets  on  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Mass.  It  goes  on  night  and  day,  and  has  done  so  since  the 
first  offering  of  it  by  Christ  Himself,  when  He  said  to  His 
Apostles,  "  Do  this  for  a  commemoration  of  me."  Malachi 
prophesied  even  better  than  he  knew ;  for  in  his  day  this  astro- 
nomical truth  of  the  daily  revolution  of  the  earth  was  not  even 
dreamed  of.  The  Mass,  then,  is  the  "  clean  oblation  "  in 
every  place,  and  the  prophecy  of  the  great  prophet  is  fulfilled 
to  the  letter  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass;  and  it  is  fulfilled  no- 
where else.  If  not  fulfilled  in  the  Alass,  will  some  wiser  Jere- 
miah, or  prophet,  arise  and  tell  us  where  it  is  fulfilled  ? 

Of  all  the  prayers  mentioned  in  this  paper,  of  all  the  prayers 


220  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

known  to  sinful  men,  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  the 
greatest,  the  most  worthy  of  God,  the  grandest  in  its  benefits  to 
men.  It  is  in  reality  a  never-ceasing  prayer,  a  treasury  of  the 
models  of  the  prayers  of  the  ages.  This  is  the  secret  of  the 
throngs  that  fill  the  temples  of  the  Catholic  Christian  Church; 
this  is  why  their  doors  are  ever  open  "  from  the  rising  to  the 
setting  of  the  sun."  For  they  have  something  there  to  bring 
them.  This  is  why  all  other  churches  are  desolate  and  closed 
except  on  Sundays ;  they  have  no  Mass,  no  "  Emmanuel,"  no 
"  God  with  us." 


IX 


FROM  THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL 
POINT  OF  VIEW 

BY 

EDWARD    LAWRENCE,    F.R.A.L 

WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA. 


IX 

FROM  THE  ANTHROPOLOGICAL 
POINT  OF  VIEW 

L  The  Importance  of  Religion  in  Everyday  Life 

It  may  be  said  that  the  time  has  passed  when  the  study  of 
rehgioii  and  of  that  rehgious  feehng  which  is  "  the  essential 
basis  of  conduct  '  ^  could  be  claimed  as  the  exclusive  province 
of  a  single  body  of  men.  With  the  growth  of  the  science  of 
comparative  religion,  and  the  great  importance  now  attached  to 
the  study  of  religious  phenomena  by  ethnologists  and  psychol- 
ogists, it  is  to  anthropology  that  we  must  turn  if  religious 
values  are  to  be  fully  understood.  What  is  most  remarkable  is 
the  fact  that,  while  on  the  one  hand  we  have  many  Christian 
Churches  deploring  the  falling  off  in  the  numbers  of  their 
communicants,  together  with  the  general  apathy  displayed  by 
the  laity  at  large  as  to  all  matters  of  a  religious  character,  we 
should  have,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  result  of  recent  scientific 
investigation,  a  value  and  a  significance  attached  to  the  re- 
ligious instinct,  which  promises  to  be  pregnant  with  future 
possibilities.  If  it  were  necessary  to  indicate,  by  one  fact  more 
than  another,  how  great  this  interest  is,  we  might  point  to  that 
valuable  and  monumental  work,  TJic  Encyclopaedia  of  Religion 
and  Ethics,  now  in  course  of  publication,  which  deals  with  all 
the  main  factors  of  religious  life  and  culture,  with  its  myth- 
ology and  its  history,  its  superstitions  and  its  ethics,  its  philos- 
ophy and  psychology."  "  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no 
subject  of  modern  research  which  concerns  all  classes  so  nearly 
as  the  study  of  religions."  ^ 

Until  recent  years,  it  was  held,  for  the  most  part,  that  bar- 
baric and  uncivilised  man  possessed  little  of  the  sentiment  and 
feeling  which  we  associate  with  the  term  "  religion.''  He  was 
given  credit  for  the  practice  of  hideous  superstitions  and  rites 

1  Thomas  Henry  Huxley. 

2  Published    in    Edinburgh,    and    edited    by    Dr.    Hastings,    M.A.,    F.R.A.I.,    and    Dr 
Selbie,    M..\. 

3  Committee    on    Publication    in    Brinton's    Lectures    on    the    Religions    of   Primitive 
Peoples,  New  York.   1897. 

223 


224  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  the  most  abominable  kind,  but  it  was  explicitly  denied  that 
he  possessed  religious  feeling  in  any  higher  form."*  Even  the 
late  Lord  Avebury  held  to  the  last  that  prayer  itself,  being  to 
us  a  necessary  part  of  religion,  was  independent  of  the  lower 
forms  of  religion.''  We  know  now  that,  not  only  is  religion  a 
matter  of  vital  importance  in  the  everyday  life  of  the  savage, 
not  only  is  it  interwoven  with  all  his  habits,  customs,  and  modes 
of  thought,*^  but  that  the  practice  of  prayer  is  found  to  exist 
among  some  of  the  most  savage  races  known  to  us.  Even  cer- 
tain customs,  barbarous  and  cruel  as  we  may  deem  them,  when 
traced  to  their  fountain-head,  are  found  to  have  arisen  from 
the  most  pious  motives  and  are  carried  into  effect  through  the 
most  earnest  convictions.'^  What  adds  a  deep  significance  to 
the  value  of  the  religious  impulse  is  the  undoubted  fact  that, 
wherever  and  whenever  a  religion  has  been  brought  into  ridi- 
cule and  contempt,  physical  and  moral  decrepitude  follows  as  a 
fixed  and  a  natural  consequence.  Having  for  my  part  paid  no 
inconsiderable  attention  for  some  years  past  to  the  effect  of 
outside  influence  upon  the  character  of  civilised  and  uncivilised 
man  in  various  parts  of  the  globe,  it  would  be  a  difficult  task 
for  me  to  name  any  race  or  tribe  whose  morale  has  not  under- 
gone serious  degeneration  when  once  its  ancient  ritual  and 
its  religion  have  been  brought  into  contumely.  This  being 
granted,  the  paramount  importance  of  a  religion  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  almost  beyond  discussion. 


n.  Prayer  among  Uncivilised  Man 

Writing  some  years  ago,  the  late  Auguste  Sabatier,  formerly 
Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Protestant  Theology,  Paris,  declared 
that  nothing  better  reveals  the  worth  and  moral  dignity  of  a 
religion  than  the  kind  of  prayer  it  puts  into  the  mouths  of  its 
adherents ;  ^  a  truism  which  we  shall  find  to  be  as  applicable  to 
the  most  primitive  as  it  is  to  the  highest  forms  of  religious 
development. 

Many  prayers  of  savage  races  have  been  recorded  in  recent 
years.  An  examination  of  these  petitions  shows  that,  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  it  is  for  material  prosperity  and  gain 
that  the  savage  prays.     He  asks  that  his  crops  may  prosper, 

4  Dr.  Brinton,  id.  pp.  30-31,  referring  to  Lubbock  and  Spencer. 

5  Origin  of  Civilisation,  6th  ed.,  p.  402. 

6  See  Ellis,  Tshi-Speaking  Peoples  of  the  Gold  Coast,   1887,  P-   9- 

7  Id.  p.  9. 

8  Philosophy  of  Religion  based  on  Psychology  and  History,   1897,  p.   109. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       225 

that  he  himself  may  be  freed  from  danger,  that  no  disease  may 
befall  his  cattle,  or  that  they  may  not  die. 

Thus  the  Egbos,  a  tribe  living  in  the  depths  of  the  bush  in 
Southern  Nigeria,  pray  to  the  sun,  saying: 

"  Sun  of  morning,  sun  of  evening,  let  me  be  free 
from  danger  to-day."  " 

In  another  instance,  the  prayer  is  to  Obassi,  a  kind  of  an- 
cestor-god :  "  Obassi,  everything  was  made  by  you.  You 
made  earth  and  heaven.  Without  you  nothing  was  made. 
Everything  comes  from  you."  ^" 

The  natives  of  Brass  in  the  Niger  Delta  before  eating  and 
drinking  present  a  little  food  and  liquid  to  the  household  deity 
and  then  offer  the  following  prayer : 

"  Preserve  our  lives,  O  spirit  father  who  hast  gone  before, 
and  make  thy  house  fruitful,  so  that  we,  thy  children,  shall 
increase,  multiply  and  so  grow  rich  and  powerful."  ^^ 

Writing  of  the  New  Caledonians,  Sir  J.  G.  Frazer  says: 
"If  only  wrestling  in  prayer  could  satisfy  the  wants  of  man, 
few  people  should  be  better  provided  with  all  the  necessaries 
and  comforts  of  life  than  the  New  Caledonians."  ^^ 

The  Todas,  a  pastoral  tribe  inhabiting  the  Nilgiri  plateau, 
offer  prayer  continually  in  their  daily  life.  Dr.  W.  H.  R. 
Rivers  tells  us  that  these  prayers  are  in  the  form  of  supplica- 
tions, to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  gods  in  protecting  their  buffaloes  : 
"  May  it  be  well  with  the  buffaloes ;  may  they  not  suffer  from 
disease  or  die;  may  they  be  kept  from  poisonous  animals  and 
from  wild  beasts  and  from  injury  by  flood  or  fire;  may  there 
be  water  and  grass  in  plenty."  ^^ 

To  take  another  example  from  the  Dark  Continent,  we  find 
the  Bawenda,  a  Bantu  tribe  living  in  the  north-east  of  the 
Transvaal,  offering  the  following  appeal  during  their  annual 
sacrifices  at  the  graves  of  their  ancestors :  "  O  Modzimo, 
Thou  art  our  father;  we  Thy  children  have  congregated  here; 
we  humbly  beg  to  inform  Thee  that  a  new  year  has  commenced. 
Thou  art  our  God;  Thou  art  our  Creator;  Thou  art  our 
Keeper;  we  pray  Thee  give  us  food  for  us  and  our  children; 
give  us  cattle ;  give  us  happiness.  Preserve  us  from  illness, 
pestilence,  and  war."  ^^ 

9  p.  Amaury  Talbot,  In  the  Shadow  of  the  Bush,   191 2,  p.  21. 

10  Id.   p.   66. 

11  A.  G.  Leonard,  The  Lower  Niger  and  its  Tribes,   1906,  p.  292. 

12  The  Belief  in  Immortality,  vol.  i.,  1913,  p.  332. 

13  The  Todas,  1906,  p.  216. 

14  Rev.  E.  Gottechling  in  Journal  Anthropological  Institute,   190S,  vol.  35.  p.  380. 


226  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

While  this  feature,  the  desire  for  material  gain,  is  a  pre- 
dominant one  in  all  primitive  ritual,  it  is  hardly  necessary  for 
us  to  be  reminded  that  it  is  also  a  prominent  characteristic  of 
all  the  higher  religions.  The  great  difference  between  the 
creed  of  the  savage  and  the  creed  of  the  higher  races  is  this: 
that  while  among  the  former  it  is  material  gain  that  is  chiefly 
sought,  among  the  latter  the  material  factor  has  become,  as  it 
were,  spiritualised,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to  examine 
the  liturgies  of  the  higher  races. 

Nevertheless  an  ethical  element  is  present  in  many  prayers 
offered  by  races  which  we,  in  common  parlance,  classify  as 
"  savage.''     Thus  the  Sioux  of  North  America  say : 

"  O  my  grandfather  the  earth,  I  ask  that  thou  givest  me  a 
long  life  and  strength  of  body.  When  I  go  to  war  let  me  cap- 
ture many  horses  and  kill  many  enemies,  but  in  peace  let  not 
anger  enter  my  heart."  ^^ 

It  will  scarcely  be  denied  that  in  the  portion  of  the  prayer 
italicised  we  have  the  appearance  of  an  ethical  element  which  is 
absent  from  the  supplications  taken  from  a  lower  stage  of  cul- 
ture. Indeed,  with  a  few  verbal  alterations,  this  prayer  might 
well  stand  side  by  side  with  many  of  those  which  still  find 
utterance  in  the  congregations  of  Christendom.  And  if  it  be 
thought  that  the  ethical  element  in  this  prayer  be  an  exception, 
surely  the  following  incident  would  serve  to  dispel  it. 

At  Fort  Yates,  overlooking  the  Missouri  River,  there  may 
be  seen  at  this  moment  a  remarkable  petrifaction  in  the  shape 
of  a  woman  with  her  child  on  her  back,  very  life-like  in  ap- 
pearance, which  is  venerated  by  the  Red  Indians  as  a  sacred 
relic.  This  figure  was  brought  to  the  Indian  Agency  and  set 
up  in  its  present  position  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  James  Mc- 
Laughlin, formerly  Indian  agent  to  the  Sioux.  A  great  coun- 
cil of  Indians  was  held,  at  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  un- 
veiling of  the  image  should  be  performed  by  some  Indian  who 
could  truly  claim  possession  of  all  the  Indian  virtues.  A  war- 
rior named  Fire  Cloud  was  selected.  On  the  day  of  the  cere- 
mony. Fire  Cloud,  addressing  the  Great  Spirit,  prayed  for 
peace,  hoping  that  the  erection  of  the  monument  would  estab- 
lish a  lasting  peace  in  all  the  land,  not  only  between  the  Indians 
and  the  white  men  but  among  the  Indians  themselves.  He 
praved  that  the  Great  Spirit  would  bless  the  rock  and  the  place, 
so  that  they  might  be  regarded  as  a  pledge  of  the  eternal  cessa- 
tion of  warfare.     Then,  turning  to  his  brother  Indians  as- 

15  Captain  Clark,  quoted  by  Brinton,  id.   p.   io6. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       227 

senibled,  he  charged  them  to  observe  the  hiws  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  that  those  amongst  them  who  had  not  clean  hearts 
and  hands  should  stand  abashed  and  humiliated  in  the  presence 
of  the  woman  of  the  Standing  Rock  and  the  Great  Spirit.  He 
then  and  there  called  upon  them  to  repent  and  devote  them- 
selves to  lead  clean  and  pure  lives  in  the  future.^'' 

During  one  of  the  ceremonies  of  initiation  into  the  mys- 
teries of  manhood,  the  youth  of  the  Omiaha  (a  Sioux  tribe) 
prays  to  Wako,  the  great  permeating  life  of  visible  nature, 
itself  invisible  but  which  reaches  everything  and  everywhere. 
Standing  alone,  in  a  solitary  place,  with  clay  upon  his  head  and 
the  tears  falling  from  his  eyes,  he  with  hands  uplifted,  sup- 
plicates the  Great  Spirit  to  aid  him  in  his  need.^" 

These  instances  in  themselves  may  suffice  to  show  how  im- 
portant a  place  prayer  occupies  in  the  mind  of  savage  and 
uncivilised  man. 

III.   Prayer  among  Civilised  Peoples 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  civilised  peoples  of  the  ancient 
world.  A  great  number  of  prayers  and  invocations  have  come 
down  to  us  from  Babylonia;  many  of  them  exquisite  invoca- 
tions put  into  the  mouth  of  worshippers,  expressive  of  their 
deep  sense  of  moral  quiet,  yet  ending,  as  Dr.  Jastrow  says,  in 
a  dribble  of  incantations  which  had  survived  from  a  more 
archaic  period. ^^ 

The  prayers  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  are  familiar  to  many 
of  us.  Wake  quotes  from  Bunsen  the  following,  which  shows 
how  great  has  been  the  growth  of  the  moral  element  in  what 
had  originally  been  nothing  more  than  a  magical  formula: 
"  Oh!  thou  great  God,  Lord  of  Truth,  I  have  come  to  thee,  my 
Lord,  I  have  Ijrought  myself  to  see  thy  blessings,  I  have  known 
thee.  ...  I  have  brought  ye  truth.  Rub  ye  away  my  faults. 
I  have  not  told  falsehoods  in  the  Tribunal  of  Truth.  I  have 
had  no  acquaintance  with  evil."  ^^ 

Turning  to  ancient  Persia  we  find  in  the  Gathas  or  Sacred 
Chants  attributed  to  Zoroaster  which  form  part  of  the  Yacna, 
the  great  liturgical  book  of  Avesta,  many  prayers  of  a  high  and 
lofty  character.     These  chants  are  concerned  with  the  nature 

16  James  McLaughlin,  My  Friend  the  Indian,   1910,  pp.  36-39. 

17  See   2yth  Annual  Report,   Bureau    of  American   Ethnology.    Washington,    191 1,   by 
Alice  Fletcher  and   Francis  la  FIcsche,  the  latter  a  member  of  the  Omaha  tribe,  p.    130. 

IS  Tastrow.    The   Study   of   Religion.    1901.   o.   21.1. 

19  Bunsen,  Egypt,  iv.,   pp.   644-5,   quoted  in   S.   Wake,   Evolution  of  Morality,   1878, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  132- 


228  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  attributes  of  Ahura-Mazda,  the  Great  Living  Lord,  the 
Most  Wise.  The  first  chant  has  been  described  by  one  of  its 
translators,  Canon  Cook,  as  a  perfect  example  of  intercessory- 
prayer,  in  which  Ahura-Mazda  is  addressed  as  the  Supreme 
Deity,  before  Whom  Zoroaster  stands  as  His  prophet.  Too 
long  to  quote  here,  it  begins  and  ends  with  prayer  and  praise 
to  the  Lord  of  the  Universe,  but  the  following  lines  will  give 
a  fair  idea  of  its  import : 

With  hands  in  prayer  uplifted 
To  Mazda,  the  quickening  Spirit, 

I  fain  would  give  due  honour  .:, 

To  all  who  by  good  works,  win  favour 

From  Him,  the  Good,  the  Holy.. 

The  just,  whom  Thou   approvest  — 
Righteous  and  pure  in  spirit, 

Do  Th9u,  O  Mighty  Ormuzd 
With  Thine  own  mouth  instruct  from  Heaven ! 

Teach  me  the  words  of  power, 
By  which  creation  first  was  fashioned !  20 

In  another  chant,  Zoroaster  presents  himself,  body  and  soul, 
as  an  oblation  to  the  Supreme  Being.  Canon  Cook  considers 
this  particular  chant  to  approach  more  closely  than  any  other 
Gentile  teaching  to  the  Christian  idea  of  worship  as  set  forth 
in  the  New  Testament.^  ^     We  quote  the  following  lines  : 

Teach  me   to  know  the  two  laws, 
By  which  I  may  walk  in  good  conscience, 

And  worship  Thee,  O  Ormuzd, 
With  hymns  of  pious  adoration. 

O,  holy  pure  Armaiti, 
Teadh  me  the  true  law  of  purity. 

This  oflfering  Zoroaster, 
The  vital  principle  of  his  whole  being 

Presents  in  pure  devotion ; 
With   every  action  done   in  holiness; 

This  above  all  professing  — 
Obedience  to  Thy  word  with  all  its  power.22 

Zoroaster's  noble  moral  code,  epitomised  as  it  has  been  in 
three  short  simple  words,-^  "  Good  thoughts,  good  words,  good 
deeds,"  is  well  illustrated  by  this  translation  of  those  beautiful 
psalms. 

Modern  Persia,  through  its  thirteenth-century  poet,  may  lay 

20  F.  C.  Cook,  Origins  of  Religion  and  Language,  1884,  pp.  212-16. 

21  F.  C.  Cook,  Origins  of  Religion  and  Language,  1884,  p.  256. 

22  Id.   pp.   247-8. 

23  Encyclopaedia  Biblica,  art.  "  Zoroastrianism,"   1907,  vol.  iv.,  col.   5435. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       229 

claim  to  have  given  Christendom  one  of  those  great  lessons 
wliich,  as  experience  has  so  painfully  shown,  it  is  so  dillicult 
for  many  of  us  to  learn  and  to  practise  —  the  lesson  of  tolera- 
tion. In  his  poem  known  as  the  Mathnavl,  which  has  been 
described  as  being  perhaps  the  greatest  mystical  poem  of  any 
age,-'  Jalal  al  din  gives  us  the  following  exposition  of  the 
doctrine  of  largc-mindedness. 

Moses  once  heard  a  shepherd  praying:  "  O  Lord  show  me 
where  Thou  art,  that  I  may  become  Thy  servant.  I  will  clean 
Thy  shoes  and  comb  Thy  hair,  and  sew  Thy  clothes,  and  fetch 
Thee  milk."  When  Moses  heard  him  praying  so  senselessly  he 
rebuked  him  and  said :  "  O  foolish  one,  though  thy  father  was 
a  Muslim,  thou  hast  become  an  infidel !  God  is  a  spirit,  and 
needs  not  such  gross  ministrations  as  in  thy  ignorance  thou 
supposest."  Abashed  at  this  stern  rebuke  the  shepherd  rent  his 
clothes  and  fled  to  the  desert.  Then  from  Heaven  a  voice  was 
heard  saying :  "  O  Moses,  why  hast  thou  driven  away  My 
servant?  Thine  office  is  to  reconcile  My  people  with  Me,  not 
to  drive  them  away,  for  I  have  given  to  men  different  ways  and 
forms  of  praising  and  adoring  Me.  I  have  no  need  of  their 
praises,  being  exalted  high  above  all  such  needs.  I  regard  not 
the  words  which  are  spoken  but  the  heart  that  offers  them.''  "'' 
The  religion  of  the  Arabian  prophet  abounds  with  beautiful 
prayers  and  moral  teacliing  of  the  highest  order.  Probably  the 
best  known  of  these  is  the  opening  supplication  of  the  Koran: 
"  Praise  be  to  God,  the  Lord  of  all  creatures,  the  most  merciful. 
Thee  do  we  worship  and  of  Thee  do  we  beg  assistance.  Direct 
us  in  the  right  way,  in  the  way  of  those  to  whom  Thou  hast 
been  gracious,  not  of  those  against  whom  Thou  art  incensed, 
nor  of  those  who  go  astray."  In  other  prayers  it  is  declared 
that  it  is  not  the  formal  act  of  praying  that  justifies  but  the 
doing  of  that  which  is  held  to  be  right  and  good. 

"  It  is  not  righteousness  that  ye  turn  your  faces  in  prayer 
towards  the  east  or  the  west ;  but  righteousness  is  of  him  who 
believeth  in  God,  who  giveth  money  for  God's  sake  unto  his 
kindred,  and  unto  orphans,  and  the  needy,  and  the  stranger, 
and  of  those  who  perform  their  covenants  when  they  have 
covenanted,  and  who  behave  themselves  patiently  in  hardship 
and  adversitv  and  in  times  of  violence,  these  are  they  who  are 
the  true."  2«" 

2*  Ency.  Religion  and  Ethics,  vol.  vii.,  p.  474- 

25  Whinfield's   translation    quoted  in   L.    M.    J.    Garnett's   Mysticism   and  Magic   in 
Turkey,   1912,  PP-   S1-S2. 

26  Ameer  All,   Syed,  Islam,   1909,  p.  9. 


230  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

In  another  prayer  the  petitioner  says :  "  O  Lord,  I  supplicate 
Thee  for  firmness  in  faith  and  direction  towards  rectitude;  I 
supphcate  Thee  for  an  innocent  heart,  which  shall  not  incline  to 
wickedness;  and  I  supplicate  Thee  for  a  true  tongue  and  for 
that  virtue  which  thou  knowest."  -'^ 

From  Mohammedanism  it  is  not  unfitting  to  turn  to 
Buddhism,  from  that  great  religious  system  of  Arabia,  with 
its  imageless  adoration  of  Allah,  the  All-Powerful,  to  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Buddha,  whose  ethical  system  of  philosophy  is 
perhaps  the  greatest  the  world  has  ever  received,  and  whose 
image  may  be  met  with  in  thousands  of  shrines  and  temples  in 
the  Far  East. 

For  four  hundred  years  no  greater  contention  has  vexed 
Christendom  than  that  of  the  use  of  images  in  religious  wor- 
ship. Yet  it  may  be  seriously  questioned,  whether,  after  all, 
its  true  import  and  significance  —  its  inwardness  —  has  ever 
been  realised  and  understood  by  the  majority  even  of  those 
who  are  by  no  means  its  chief  opponents. 

The  study  of  image-ritual  as  practised  by  many  uncultured 
races  throws  an  unexpected  light  upon  the  attitude  of  those 
wdio  profess  a  higher  creed,  but  who  still  retain  their  images 
of  wood  and  of  stone.  Not  even  the  most  barbaric  of  men 
believes  that  the  image  to  which  he  prays  and  to  which  he 
makes  his  offering,  is  of  itself  a  deity. 

It  is  to  the  spirit  which  enters  the  idol,  as  it  were,  that  he 
makes  his  supplication.  It  can  hardly  be  open  to  reasonable 
doubt  but  that  such  an  attitude  has  been  the  precursor  and  the 
inaugurator  of  religion  of  a  greater  and  nobler  type.  Certain 
it  is  that,  not  only  in  its  lower  manifestations  but  in  its  higher 
ones  as  well,  the  presence  of  an  image,  to  those  who  believe  in 
it,  exerts  a  most  powerful  influence  over  its  votaries,  an  in- 
fluence which,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  is  misunderstood  by 
others  who  profess  an  alien  creed. 

Near  Gaya  town,  in  that  little  village  of  Bodh  Gaya,  there 
exists  the  temple  of  the  Mahabodhi  —  of  the  great  enlighten- 
ment —  a  spot  sanctified  and  held  to  be  the  most  holy  on  earth 
by  some  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  the  human  race.  That 
temple,  recently  repaired  l3y  the  Indian  Government,  contains 
a  mediaeval  statue  of  the  Buddha.^^  What  mystic  influence 
that  image  must  have  upon  the  Buddhist  worshipper  may  be 

27  Id.    p.    8. 

28  Mitra  Rajendralala,  LL.D.,  Budda  Gaya,  the  Hermitage  of  S^kya  Mtmi,  Calcutta, 
1878;  Ency,  Religion  and  Ethics,  vol.  vi.,   1913,  PP-   182-5, 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       231 

gathered  from  Moncure  D.  Conway's  description  of  his  own 
feehngs,  when  he  paid  a  visit  to  that  shrine  during  his  "  Pil- 
grimage to  the  Wise  Men  of  the  East."  He  says:  "  I  feel  as 
if  I  know  something  of  Zoroaster  and  of  Jesus,  and  these  two 
arc  to  me  the  men  who  knew  the  true  religion.  The  real 
Ijuddha  is  more  dim ;  but  at  Gaya  the  thought  of  that  young 
prince,  burdened  with  the  sorrows  and  delusions  of  mankind, 
reached  far  down  in  me  and  touched  some  subconscious  source 
of  tears  and  love  for  the  man,  and  I  longed  to  clasp  his 
knees."  -" 

Again,  the  Rev.  John  Hedley,  a  Protestant  missionary,  who 
visited  a  few  years  since  the  Pagoda  of  T'ai  Ming  T'a  in 
Mongolia,  tells  us  in  glowing  language  of  the  emotions  pro- 
duced in  his  mind  when  he  beheld  the  standing  figure  of  the 
Buddha  erected  in  that  "  pagan  temple."  He  says  the  image 
affected  him  strangely  and  profoundly,  so  much  so  that,  at 
the  risk  of  offending  his  sturdy  Nonconformist  brethren,  it  is 
but  simple  truth  to  state  that  it  would  have  been  a  compara- 
tively easy  thing  for  him  to  kneel  down  before  that  image  and 
pay  homage  to  "  One  greater  "  than  Buddha,  of  Whose  selfless 
life  Buddha  himself  was  so  marvellous  a  forerunner.  "  The 
sweet  and  gracious  expression  on  that  gentle  face  would  have 
charmed  an  artist,  inspired  a  poet,  and  captured  the  love  of  a 
devotee.  .  .  .  Had  this  figure  stood  in  some  venerable  cathe- 
dral of  the  Catholic  faith  in  Europe,  the  most  appropriate  word 
to  have  written  over  it  would  have  been  the  old  familiar  words 
of  love  and  blessing:  '  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.'  I  do  not  wonder 
now  that  some  people  find  images  and  icons  helpful  to  their 
faith.  .  .  .  For  myself,  it  is  not  irreverent  to  say  that  though 
I  bowed  not  my  knee  nor  even  momentarily  inclined  my  head 
as  I  gazed  on  what  in  vulgar  parlance  we  must  call  an  idol,  I 
realised  my  Lord  more  distinctly  and  drew  nearer  in  spirit 
to  Him."  30 

Surely  it  is  time  for  us  to  pause,  to  rub  our  eyes,  to  ask 
ourselves  whether  we  are  in  the  twentieth  century,  with  its  coal 
and  its  iron,  its  press,  or  whether,  after  all,  we  are  not  back 
again  in  mediaeval  times,  with  its  saints  and  its  sinners,  its 
Madonnas  and  its  suffering  Christ.  Once  more  the  picture  of 
Savonarola   in  his   cell,    with  the  crucifix   before   him,    rises 

29  Conway,   My  Pilgrimage,    1906,  p.   263. 

80  John  Hedley,  F.R.G.S.,   Tramps  in  Dark  Mongolia,   1906,  pp.    140-42. 


232  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

before  us  as  he  pens  the  Hnes  of  that  great  prayer  of  his 
known  as  the  "  Hymn  to  the  Cross  " : 

Jesus !  would  my  heart  were  burning 

With   more    fervent   love   of   Thee, 
Would  my  eyes  were  ever  turning 

To  Thy  Cross  of  agony. 

Would  that,  on  that  Cross  suspended 

I  the  martyr-pangs  might  win. 
Where  the  Lord  from  Heaven  descended 

Sinless,  suffered  for  my  sin !  ^^ 

Santa  Teresa  tells  us  how,  losing  her  mother  at  the  tender 
age  of  twelve  years,  she  went  in  her  affliction  to  the  image  of 
Our  Lady,  and,  with  many  tears,  supplicated  her  to  be  her 
mother.^^  On  another  occasion  entering  her  oratory,  her  eyes 
by  chance  fell  upon  the  image  of  the  wounded  Christ.  "  As  I 
gazed  on  it,  my  whole  being  was  stirred  to  see  Him  in  such  a 
state,  for  all  He  went  through  was  well  set  forth;  such  was 
the  sorrow  I  felt  for  having  repaid  those  wounds  so  ill,  that 
my  heart  seemed  rent  in  twain."  ^^ 

Western  civilisation,  with  its  immense  and  its  intense  ma- 
terial prosperity,  has  almost  forgotten  what  it  owes  to  the  past. 
It  may  be  that  in  the  near  future,  the  infinity  of  that  debt  will 
be  recognised  and  acknowledged.  For,  were  we  to  search  for 
the  most  beautiful  examples  of  Christian  prayer,  which  form 
such  an  essential  feature  of  the  Christian  faith,  it  is  to  pre- 
Reformation  times  that  we  must  turn.  No  greater  battle  has 
ever  been  waged  over  any  book  than  over  the  "  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer."  Abhorred  and  hated  by  the  early  Puritans, 
denounced  by  them  as  being  "  full  of  abominations,"  and 
branded  as  "  ridiculous  and  blasphemous  "  ^^  it  still  remains 
unrivalled  and  unsurpassed  in  Christendom  as  a  manual  of  true 
devotion.  Yet  nine-tenths  of  that  book  is  no  recent  creation, 
but  belongs  to  the  most  ancient  periods  of  Christian  history; 
nor  has  any  serious  attempt  been  made  to  replace  it.  To 
certain  Protestant  historians  is  due  the  everlasting  credit  of 
indicating  how  vast  our  debt  is.  Milner  says  that  the  litanies 
which  were  collected  by  Gregory  the  First  in  the  sixth  century 
were  but  slightly  different  from  those  in  use  by  the  Church  of 
England  to-day.^^ 

31  See  G.  S.  Godkin,  The  Monastery  of  San  Marco,  1901,  pp.  67-8. 

32  Gp.briela  C.  Graham,  Santa  Teresa,   1894.  vol.  i.,  p.  93. 

33  Id.  i.    142. 

34  Hardwick,  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  The  Reformation,  2nd  ed.,  1865, 
p.    260. 

35  Milner,  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  Edinburg,   1841,  p.  414. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       233 

Perhaps  the  greatest  eulogy  of  all  has  been  pronounced  by 
the  Congregational  historian,  Dr.  Stoughton.  He  says  that: 
"  As  the  sources  whence  the  Book  was  compiled  are  so  numer- 
ous and  so  ancient,  belonging  to  Christendom  in  the  remotest 
times,  as  there  is  in  it  so  little  that  is  really  original,  so  little 
that  belongs  to  the  Reformed  Episcopal  Church  in  England  any 
more  than  to  other  Churches  constrained  by  conscience  to 
separate  from  Rome  —  the  bulk  of  what  the  Book  contains, 
including  all  that  is  most  beautiful  and  noble,  like  hymns, 
which,  by  whomsoever  written,  are  sung  in  Churches  of  every 
name,  ought  to  be  regarded  as  the  rightful  inheritance  of  any 
who  l>elicve  in  the  essential  unity  of  Christ's  Catholic  Church, 
and  can  sympathise  in  the  devotions  of  a  Chrysostom,  a  Hilary, 
and  an  Ambrose."  ^'^ 

In  the  Bishops'  Book,  known  as  the  Institution  of  a  Christen 
Man  (Instruction  of  a  Christian  Man),  issued  during  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIIL.  there  is  an  exceedingly  beautiful  paraphrastic 
exposition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  may  be  considered  a 
notable  instance  of  that  spiritualisation  of  worldly  desires  to 
which  allusion  has  already  been  made.  The  passage  is  too 
long  for  quotation,  but  we  select  the  following  which  may 
prove  sufficient  to  denote  its  character:  "O  our  heavenly 
Father,  we  beseech  Thee  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread. 
Give  us  meat,  drink,  and  clothing  for  our  bodies.  Send  us 
increase  of  corn,  fruit,  and  cattle.  Give  us  health  and  strength, 
rest  and  peace,  that  we  may  lead  a  peaceful  life  in  all  godliness 
and  honesty.  .  .  .  Give  also  Thy  grace  to  us,  that  we  have  not 
too  much  solicitude  and  care  for  these  transitory  and  unstable 
things,  but  that  our  hearts  mav  be  fixed  in  things  which  be 
eternal  and  in  Thy  Kingdom  which  is  everlasting.  .  .  .  Give 
us  grace,  that  we  may  be  fed  and  nourished  with  all  the  life 
of  Christ,  that  is  to  say,  both  His  words  and  works ;  and  that 
they  may  be  to  us  an  effectual  example  and  spectacle  of  all 
virtues.  Grant  that  all  they  that  preach  Thy  w^ord  may  profit- 
ably and  godly  preach  Thee  and  Thy  Son  Jesu  Christ  through 
all  the  world ;  and  that  all  we  which  hear  Thy  word  preached 
may  be  so  fed  therewith,  that  not  only  we  may  outwardly  re- 
ceive the  same  but  also  digest  it  w^ithin  our  hearts ;  and  that  it 
may  so  work  and  feed  every  part  of  us,  that  it  may  appear  in 
all  the  acts  and  deeds  of  our  life."  ^^ 

S8  History  of  Religion   in   England,   new   ed..    1881.   vol.   iii..    p.    215. 
37  See   J.    H.    Blunt,    The    Reformation    of    the    Church    of    England,    vol.    i.,    1868, 
pp.  448-9. 


234  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

A  passing  reference  at  least  must  be  made  to  the  prayers 
contained  in  the  Roman  CathoHc  Service  book  —  of  a  Church 
which  has  been  more  misunderstood  and  misrepresented  than 
any  other  world-wide  faith.  From  the  prayers  at  Mass,  we  se- 
lect the  following,  which  show  the  high  ethical  standard  of  her 
creed  at  its  best:  "  O  Lord  .  .  .  have  mercy  on  all  heretics, 
infidels,  and  sinners;  bless  and  preserve  all  my  enemies;  and  as 
I  freely  forgive  them  the  injuries  they  have  done  or  mean  to 
do  me,  so  do  Thou  in  Thy  mercy  forgive  me  my  offences." 
Or,  again,  take  the  prayer  in  which  the  penitent  prays  for  a 
spiritual  cleansing :  "  O  Lord,  Who  once  didst  vouchsafe  to 
wash  the  feet  of  Thy  disciples  .  .  .  wash  us  also,  we  beseech 
Thee,  O  Lord ;  and  wash  us  again,  not  only  our  feet  and  hands 
but  our  hearts,  our  desires,  and  our  souls,  that  we  may  be 
wholly  innocent  and  pure." 

Can  Protestant  Christendom  present  to  us  anything  more 
touchingly  beautiful  than  the  following?  At  Puenta-del-Inca, 
between  Argentina  and  Chili,  perched  upon  the  highest  pin- 
nacle of  the  Great  Andes,  there  is  to  be  seen  a  colossal  figure 
of  Christ  the  Redeemer.  Cast  from  bronze  cannon  taken  from 
the  arsenal  at  Buenos  Ayres,  and  erected  to  celebrate  the  es- 
tablishment of  peace  between  these  two  countries,  it  was  be- 
queathed, not  only  to  Argentina  and  to  Chili  but  to  the  whole 
world,  that  from  that  monument  it  might  learn  its  lesson  of  uni- 
versal peace.  On  its  pedestal  we  may  read :  "  Sooner  shall 
these  mountains  crumble  to  dust  than  Argentineans  and  Chil- 
ians break  the  peace  which  at  the  feet  of  Christ  the  Redeemer 
they  have  sworn  to  maintain." 

At  the  opening  ceremony  the  Archbishop  of  Argentina, 
Monsignor  Espinosa,  offered  the  following  prayer,  a  prayer 
so  inexpressibly  beautiful  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  quoting 
it  in  extctiso:  "  Lord,  when  my  voice  is  silent,  when  my  eyes 
cannot  behold  Thee,  and  my  heart,  already  changed  to  dust, 
disappears  with  the  remembrance  of  my  existence,  Thine  image, 
represented  in  eternal  bronze,  shall  be  a  perpetual  offering  on 
the  highest  pinnacle  of  Argentina.  When  the  white  snows 
shall  close  the  path  to  men,  permit  that  my  spirit  may  keep  vigil 
at  the  foot  of  this  mountain.  Protect,  Lord,  our  country. 
Ever  give  us  faith  and  hope.  Let  our  first  inheritance  be  the 
peace  which  shall  bear  fruit,  and  let  its  fine  example  be  its 
greatest  glory,  so  that  the  souls  of  those  who  have  known  Thee 
shall  be  able  to  bring  forth  from  Thee  all  forms  of  blessing  fcsr 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       235 

the  two  Americas.  Amen."  ^^  This  noble  petition  may  well 
form  a  fitting  close  to  our  examination  of  the  invocations  of 
civilised  and  barbaric  man. 

IV.  The  Ethical  Significance  of  Prayer 

Having  passed  under  review  the  attitude  both  of  uncultured 
and  civilised  man  towards  the  Unseen,  as  illustrated  by  exam- 
ples of  his  petitions  and  prayers,  we  are  now  in  a  position  to 
fonn  an  estimate  as  to  their  moral  value. 

As  we  have  said,  the  study  of  a  religion  can  no  longer  be 
claimed  as  the  exclusive  business  of  the  theologian  or  the 
divine.  A  new  science  has  dawned  —  the  science  of  mankind 
—  and  with  it,  that  mantle  which  formerly  rested  upon  the 
shoulders  of  its  Elijah  has  fallen  upon  the  shoulders  of  the 
son  of  Shaphat.  Therefore,  it  is  for  science  to  estimate  re- 
ligious values,  to  measure  all  moral  worth ;  nor  is  it  too  much 
to  say  that  the  justice  of  her  verdict  will  be  in  accordance  with 
Nature's  laws.  Like  all  her  sister  sciences,  the  science  of 
Ethnology  recognises  law  everywhere,  no  less  in  the  prayer  of 
man  than  in  those  starry  realms  far  beyond  his  unaided  ken. 

Professor  Max  Miiller  once  declared  that  "  he  w^ho  knows 
but  one  religion  knows  none."  With  equal  truth  it  may  be  said 
that  he  who  scorns  the  religion  of  others  is  not  religious  him- 
self. The  day  of  the  scoffer,  of  him  who  jeered  and  held  to 
contempt  the  faith  of  another,  has  passed  away.  Scientific 
men.  at  least,  have  too  great  a  respect  for  Nature  herself  to 
gibe  and  jeer  at  those  things  which  they  may  not  after  all 
understand.  All  they  do  claim  is,  that  all  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience shall  be  subjected  to  the  same  method  of  investigation, 
whether  it  be  the  study  of  a  piece  of  granite,  or  the  interpreta- 
tion of  a  prayer. 

Just  as  the  interpretation  of  certain  "  spiritual  "  phenomena 
at  the  hands  of  Christian  theologians  is  not  necessarily  in  ac- 
cordance with  religion  itself  in  its  highest  aspects,  so  the  ex- 
planation of  the  phenomena  of  nature  by  scientific  men  is  not 
necessarily  "Science"  in  itself.  For  example,  some  theo- 
logians tell  us  that  the  answer  to  prayer  is  a  process  of  viola- 
tion of  natural  law.  "  The  general  providence  of  God  acts 
through  what  are  called  the  laws  of  Nature.  By  His  partic- 
ular providence,  God  interferes  with  these  laws."  ^^ 

38  Percy  F.  Martin,  F.R.G.S.,  Through  Five  Republics,   190S.  PP.   358-9- 
S9  Hook,  Church  Dictionary,  6th  ed.,   1842.  art.   "  Prayer." 


236  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

In  opposition  to  this  theological  doctrine,  the  student  of 
Nature  holds  that,  so  far  as  human  experience  is  concerned,  all 
phenomena  —  subjective  and  objective  —  must  be  interpreted 
in  accordance  with  natural  law.  So  far  as  man's  knowledge 
reaches,  Nature  never  discards  her  own  laws;  if  she  could 
set  them  aside  she  would  cease  to  be  natural.  Therefore,  if  the 
act  of  prayer  possesses  any  value  for  man  at  all,  it  is  from  man 
himself,  as  part  of  Nature,  that  we  must  obtain  an  answer. 
The  appeal  must  be  to  the  natural,  not  to  the  supernatural;  it 
must  be  based  upon  human  experience,  not  upon  human  suppo- 
sition. 

There  is  reason  to  believe,  outside  all  supernatural  explana- 
tion, that  the  act  of  prayer  and  the  desires  that  prayer  incul- 
cates, are  as  necessary  a  part  of  the  psychological  evolution  of 
m.an  as  any  other  process  of  nature.  In  itself,  the  act  is  an 
outcome  of  an  ethical  law  of  the  highest  order  and  is  only 
inconsistent  when  it  becomes  a  mere  jumble  of  impossible 
requests. 

In  its  higher  manifestations,  it  creates  in  the  mind  of  the 
supplicant  moral  feelings  and  desires  of  the  highest  order,  ex- 
citing him  to  attain  those  spiritual  ends  of  which  his  feelings 
are  but  the  expression.  As  Lecky  so  well  put  it :  "  The  man 
who  offers  up  his  petitions  with  passionate  earnestness,  with 
unfaltering  faith,  and  with  a  vivid  realisation  of  the  presence 
of  an  Unseen  Being,  has  risen  to  a  condition  of  mind  which  is 
itself  eminently  favourable  both  to  his  own  happiness  and  to 
the  expansion  of  his  moral  qualities.^" 

Man  recognises,  as  a  universal  law,  that  certain  results 
follow  certain  acts  —  be  they  good  or  be  they  bad  —  as  surely 
as  night  follows  day.  The  savage  knows,  instinctively  as  it 
Avere,  that  if  his  actions  follow  a  certain  course,  certain  ills 
may  befall  him.  While  the  reason  he  gives  may  be  a  super- 
stitious reason,  and  therefore  no  reason  or  explanation  at  all, 
still  we  cannot  fail  to  discern  a  natural  law,  which,  whatever  its 
origin  in  the  native's  mind  may  be,  is  nevertheless  productive 
of  ethical  results.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  uncontaminated 
primitive  man  is  a  moral  man  —  as  Nature  herself  hath  willed. 
He  holds  that  calamity  and  disease,  fire  and  flood,  are  punish- 
ments sent  in  some  way  or  other  because  of  his  wrong-doing. 
He  believes  Nature  is  angry  with  him,  and,  by  his  acts,  he 
desires  and  attempts  to  appease  her.     While  it  is  true  that 

40  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  i.,  1894,  p.  36. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       237 

Nature  may  not  show  her  anger  in  the  way  which  uncultured 
man  thinks,  there  is  more  in  this  recognition  than  we  at  first 
sight  miglit  deem. 

In  a  theological  work  published  quite  recently  it  has  been 
declared  that  "  the  scientific  student  knows  nature  is  not  angry, 
and  does  not  require  appeasement."  ^^  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  "  scientific  student  "  knows  nothing  of  the  kind;  rather  he 
has  reason  to  believe  that  Nature  is  angry,  angry  because  cer- 
tain of  her  laws  have  been  thrust  aside,  and  which  she  replaced 
by  other  laws,  no  less  natural,  but  which  produce  disease. 
"  The  sins  of  the  fathers  "  and  the  results  thereof  are  no  less  a 
process  of  natural  law  than  is  the  unconscious  act  of  the  falling 
apple  the  result  of  a  law  of  gravitation.  Even  the  savage 
recognises  this ;  hence  his  abstention  from  committing  certain 
acts  which  are  prohibited  to  him  by  ancient  custom. 

For  hundreds  of  years,  in  Christian  lands,  it  has  been  con- 
sidered an  incontrovertible  fact  that  suffering  and  calamity  are 
punishments  sent  by  God.  In  the  work  just  quoted,  a  work  in 
which  the  lack  of  modern  prayer  is  bewailed,  we  are  told  that 
religion  has  contributed  much  to  immorality  by  speaking  of 
suffering  and  calamity  as  a  judgement  imposed  by  God  upon 
sin,  for  God  does  not  impose  the  consequence  of  evil.'*^  This 
is  a  most  remarkable  pronouncement;  a  pronouncement  which 
shows  the  position  into  which  recent  theological  thought  has 
been  driven.  The  old  Hebrew  prophet  knew  life  better  when 
he  declared  that  God  created  the  evil  as  well  as  the  good.'*^ 
Substitute  the  word  "  Nature  "  for  "  God  "  and  we  have  the 
clearly  defined  position  of  the  man  of  science  to-day.  But 
while  we  are  content  to  leave  to  the  theologian  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  mind  and  acts  of  God,  so  far  as  modern  science  is 
concerned,  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt  but  that  suffering  and 
calamity  are  imposed  upon  man  by  Nature  as  a  consequence  of 
wrong-doing. 

When  a  man  prays,  he  asks  to  be  taken  by  the  hand  and  led 
away  from  destruction,  so  that  he  may  prosper  and  the  right 
prevail.  Modern  psychology  has  shown  that  the  creation  of 
ideals  in  the  human  mind  leads,  by  a  natural  process,  to  the 
desire  to  attain  those  ideals.  Prayer  feeds  that  desire  and  so 
leads  to  their  ultimate  attainment."* "* 

41  Rev.   Harold  Anson,  M.A.,  in  Concerning  Prayer,   1916,  p.   83. 

42  Arthur   C.   Turner,   M.A.,   id.   p.   428. 

43  Isaiah  xlv.  7. 

44  See  Ribot,  Psychology  of  the  Emotions,  2nd  ed.,   191 1. 


238  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

We  have  pointed  out  the  fundamental  difference  that  exists 
between  the  prayer  of  great  rehgions  —  Hke  Christianity  and 
Islam  —  and  the  prayer  of  some  of  the  lower  races  of  man- 
kind. While  the  former  supplicants  pray  that  they  may  pos- 
sess all  the  great  moral  qualities,  and  that  their  life  and  char- 
acter may  be  so  moulded  as  to  produce  the  noblest  result  —  the 
latter  ask,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  for  those  things  which 
add  to  their  material  well-being.  This  has  been  made  clear  by 
examples.  Though  the  material  factor  is  constantly  present 
in  the  higher  religions,  still  it  is  spiritualised  in  the  highest 
possible  way. 

Mankind  at  large  has  many  lessons  yet  to  learn;  not  the 
least  of  these  is  the  serious  recognition  of  that  law  of  nature 
which  goes  under  the  name  of  "  Evolution."  Amongst  all 
"  civilised  "  peoples,  there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  forsake 
that  narrow  path  their  forefathers  trod  and  to  divert  their 
course  to  that  broad  way  which,  as  we  were  formerly  told, 
leadeth  to  destruction.  To-day  science  can  only  emphasise 
this  truth  our  forefathers  taught  us. 

Looking  around,  we  find  man  bent  upon  destruction  — 
everywhere  —  waging  iconoclastic  wars  of  all  descriptions. 
He  topples  over  old  idols  —  some  of  them  foolish  ones  maybe 
—  and  erects  in  their  place  idols  more  hideous  than  existed  be- 
fore. He  destroys  that  which  the  past  itself  held  to  be  bad, 
with  that  which  the  past  knew  to  be  good.  He  attempts  to 
substitute  for  the  "  gospel  of  peace  and  good  will  "  the  "  gospel 
of  hatred  "  as  a  new  way  to  righteousness."*^  He  flings  "  over- 
board Law,  Religion,  and  Authority,"  ^'^  and  gives  us  in  place 
thereof  a  society  in  which  atheism  and  anarchy  are  supreme, 
and  in  which  the  family  exists  no  more !  '^'^ 

Man  is  thus  attempting  to  divert  Nature's  course,  to  lead 
her  into  paths  of  his  own  devising;  nevertheless,  whatever 
theologians  may  now  teach,  it  will  be  with  Nature  herself  that 

45  "  We  preach  the  Gospel  of  Hatred,  because  in  the  circumstances  it  seems  the 
only  righteous  thing  we  can  preach,"  Leatham,  quoted  by  Sir  William  E.  Cooper. 
C.I.E.,   Socialism  and  its  Perils,    1908,   pp.   33.   302. 

46  Prince  Kropotkin,  quoted  by  G.  W.  Tunzelmann,  The  Superstition  called  Social- 
ism,   191 1,    p.    108. 

47  Congress  held  in  London,  July  14-19,  18S1.  "Resolved  —  that  all  revolution- 
aries be  united  into  an  International  Revolutionary  Association  to  effect  a  social 
revolution;  money  to  be  collected  to  purchase  poison  and  weapons;  rulers,  ministers 
of  State,  nobility,  clergy,  and  capitalists  to  be  annihilated."  See  E.  V.  Zenker, 
Anarchism,   trans,   from  the  German,    1898,   p.    231. 

"  In  the  new  moral  world,  the  irrational  names  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and 
child,  will  be  heard  no  more."     Robert  Owen,   quoted  by   Sir  W.  E.   Cooper,  id.  p.   41. 

It  has  been  stated  that  a  large  number  of  Labour  M.P.'s  have  been  or  are  local 
preachers.     See  Peter  Latouche,  Methods  and  Aims  of  Anarchism,   1908,  p.  14. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW       239 

man  will  have  to  reckon,  and  whose  bill  he  will  have  to  pay 
upon  her  just  demand. 

The  pronounced  evils  of  our  day,  envy  and  hatred,  malice 
and  greed,  no  less  than  war  and  pestilence,  have  ever  been 
the  result  of  evil-thinking  and  evil-speaking;  our  forefathers 
were  not  so  far  wrong,  after  all,  when  they  held  that  these  were 
punishments  and  that  war  followed  in  their  trail.  Were  an 
analysis  to  be  attempted  of  the  origin  of  many  great  wars, 
it  would  be  found  that  they  were  brought  about  by  the  greed 
of  man  and  by  the  desire  to  obtain  that  to  which  the  offender 
had  no  right.  The  story  would  be  that  of  Naboth's  vineyard 
over  and  over  again.  It  is  from  disasters  such  as  these  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian  to  pray  to  be  delivered,  so  that 
his  desire  may  become  the  father  of  acts  which  will  frustrate 
those  ends  to  which  man's  greed  would  otherwise  lead. 

There  are  other  great  evils  beside  those  of  war  and  greed. 
He  who  manifests  ridicule,  and  attempts  to  bring  into  con- 
tempt beliefs  held  sacred  by  others,  has  his  own  lesson  to  learn. 
Toleration  is  the  one  great  virtue  that  the  West  may  well  learn 
from  the  East.  Even  the  savage  never  ridicules  the  religious 
beliefs  of  his  fellows;  it  is  a  besetting  sin  not  of  savage  but 
of  Christian  lands. 

To  live,  man  must  conserve,  not  destroy.  He  must,  once 
again,  learn  to  "  leave  undone  those  things  which  he  ought  not 
to  have  done,"  and  "  do  those  things  which  he  ought  to  have 
done."     For  Nature  herself  insists  on  that. 

Were  modern  science  asked  for  one  final  word,  surely  it 
would  be  this:  if  to  pray  means  to  create  and  nourish  in  our 
minds  those  thoughts  and  aspirations  whereby  we  may  live  a 
"  righteous  and  so1)er  life  "  and  not  follow  "  the  devices  and 
desires  of  our  own  hearts,"  then  —  Pray  without  ceasing. 

Pray  that  our  actions  may  be  so  shaped  that  they  conform 
to  Nature's  will ;  that  she  may  be  our  protector,  not  our 
avenger ;  pray  that  all  erroneous  teachings  —  those  supersti- 
tions of  to-day  which  arouse  the  passions  of  the  hustings  — 
MAY  cease! 

To  the  Christian  especially  she  would  say :  Pray  ye  in  the 
spirit  and  in  like  manner  of  that  old  Catholic  saint,  who  told 
you  that :  "  You  were  made  Christians  to  this  end,  that  you 
may  always  do  the  works  of  Christ;  that  is,  that  you  may 
love  chastity,  avoid  lewdness  and  drunkenness,  maintain  humil- 
ity and  detest  pride,  because  our  Lord  Christ  both  showed 
humility  by  example  and  taught  it  by  forwards,  saying,  '  Learn 


240  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest 
for  your  souls !  '  It  is  not  enough  for  you  to  have  received  the 
name  of  Christians  if  you  do  not  do  Christian  works,  for  a 
Christian  is  he  who  does  not  hate  anybody,  but  loves  all  men 
as  himself;  who  does  not  render  evil  to  his  enemies,  but  rather 
prays  for  them;  who  does  not  stir  up  strife,  but  restores  peace 
to  those  who  are  at  variance."  ^^ 

To  those,  whatever  their  creed  may  be,  who  are  unable  to 
share  those  thoughts  which  others  revere,  Nature  would  say : 
let  us  not  forget  how  very  little  our  exact  knowledge  really  is, 
and  remember  that  there  may  still  be  many  more  things  than 
we  wot  of.  Pray  therefore  that  you  may  sympathise  where 
you  cannot  understand;  for  what  matters  it,  if  some  tread  a 
devious  path,  so  long  as  nature  wills  ? 

Lastly,  she  would  ask  all  mankind  —  with  its  divers  and  an- 
tagonistic creeds  —  with  its  love  and  its  hate,  its  war  and  its 
peace,  its  weal  and  its  woe  —  to  turn  to  that  great  figure  in 
bronze,  which  tops  the  heights  of  the  volcanic  Andes  —  that 
sublime  symbol,  not  of  the  peace  that  is,  but  of  the  peace  that 
ought  to  be  —  and  in  the  silence  of  those  now  quiescent  rocks, 
say  with  Shelley  — 

Join  then  your  hands  and  hearts,  and  let  the  past 

Be  as  a  grave,  which  gives  not  up  its  dead 
To  evil  thoughts,*^ 

SO  that  all  storm  and  strife,  and  sobs  and  tears,  may  cease,  and 
a  new  era  dawn,  in  which  Nirvana  —  that  "  peace  which  pass- 
eth  all  understanding  " —  shall  reign,  and  in  which,  once  more 

.  .  .  'neath  the  sky 
All  that  is  beautiful   shall  abide, 
All  that  is  base  shall  die.5<> 

48  Homib)   of  Caesarius,   Bishop   of  Aries,   attributed   to   St.   Eligius,   quoted  by   Dr. 
Maitland,  The  Dark  Ages,  5th  ed.,  1890,  pp.  134-9. 

49  Revolt  of  Islam. 

50  Robert  Buchanan,  Balder  the  Beautiful,    1877.  pp.  227,  312. 


X 


THE  MEETING-PLACE  OF  SCIENCE 
AND  MYSTICISM 

BY 

SYDNEY  T.  KLEIN 

F.L.S..   F.R.A.S..    M.R.I. 

XEIGATB 


X 

THE  MEETING-PLACE  OF  SCIENCE  AND 

MYSTICISM 

Prayer 

The  true  significance  of  Prayer  between  man  and  his  Makei, 
has  not  yet,  I  think,  been  rightly  appreciated  by  the  human 
race,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  the  reason  for  this  ignorance. 
There  are  many  and  convincing  proofs,  in  almost  every  line 
of  thought,  showing  that  the  human  race,  on  this  little  isolated 
spot  of  the  universe,  is  still  in  its  infancy;  and  one  of  these  is 
the  fact  that  we  still  require  Symbolism  to  help  to  maintain 
and  carry  forward  abstract  thoughts  to  higher  levels,  even  as 
children  require  picture  books  for  that  purpose.  Most  of  us 
are,  as  it  were,  asleep,  quite  unconscious  of  the  value  of  what 
St.  Paul  called  spiritual  discernment,  and  are  igiiorant  there- 
fore of  the  conditions  upon  which  the  very  efficacy  of  true 
Prayer  depends.  But  the  night  is  past  and  we  are  on  the  eve 
of  a  great  spiritual  awakening. 

For  many  years  past  those  who  have  had  the  power  of 
looking  beyond  the  mists  and  illusions  of  ever^'day  life  have 
been  watching,  with  wonder  and  expectation,  the  unmistakable 
signs  of  the  approach  of  what  may  be  called  a  great  mystical 
wave,  a  steady  awakening  of  sleeping  humanity  to  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  valite  of  that  which  is  invisible,  carrying  with  it  the 
knowledge  that  that  which  is  visible  to  our  finite  senses  has  no 
"cvlue  and  therefore  no  existence  apart  from  those  senses.  For 
three  years  past  this  wave  has  been  retarded  by  the  exigencies 
of  strife  among  nations  and  stress  of  mind  in  the  individual, 
but  it  has  not  been  stationary.  As  a  wave  in  the  sea,  when  it 
approaches  land,  becomes  more  and  more  perpendicular,  until 
it  topples  over  and  floods  the  shore,  so  has  this  wonderful  wave 
been  steadily  mounting  up,  and  its  mighty  crest  is  even  now 
ready  to  break  and  flood  the  hearts  of  humanity,  especially 
those  who  have  been  sorely  tried,  bringing  in  its  train  such  love 
and,  therefore,  happiness  as  have  never  yet  been  experienced 

243 


244  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

by  the  race  as  a  whole,  though,  at  certain  epochs  of  history,  in- 
dividuals may  have  done  so. 

Though  every  year  is  bringing  with  it  material  advance  in 
our  knowledge  of  Physics,  the  mother  of  the  physical  sciences, 
it  is  not  in  the  domain  of  the  Intellect  that  the  wave  of  en- 
lightenment is  making  itself  felt.  The  advance  in  intellectual 
knowledge  is  indeed  seen  to  be  useful  only  for  strengthening 
the  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness  of  the  "  objective,"  "  make 
straight  the  way  for  that  which  is  coming  after,"  because  the 
greater  the  advance  in  knowledge  of  the  physical,  the  more  we 
are  able  to  appreciate  the  limitations  of  the  intellect  and  its 
uselessness  for  understanding  that  which  can  only  be  discerned 
by  the  heart.  The  iiliimate  cry  of  the  true  scientific  investi- 
gator must  always  be :  "  He  who  knows  most,  knows  most 
how  little  he  knows." 

I  propose  in  this  essay  to  examine  the  subject  of  "  True 
Prayer  "  by  means  of  the  wider  outlook  which  will  be  open  to 
all  of  us  when  the  zvave  breaks. 

I  am  basing  my  argument  upon  the  following  two  postulates : 

First,  that  Nature  was  made  by  Nature's  God,  so  that  I 
am  able  to  examine  the  forces  contained  in  phenomena  as 
emanations  from  that  God,  and  that  the  whole  of  the  universe 
is  the  manifestation  or  materialisation  of  what  may  be  called 
the  "  Thought  "  or  Will  of  God.  He  is  not  subject  to  time  and 
that  "  Thought  "  therefore  must  have  the  aspect  of  being,  what 
we  should  call,  instantaneous;  it  is  only  the  finiteness  of  our 
outlook,  under  the  conditions  of  time  and  space,  which  necessi- 
tates our  looking  at  Creation  as  though  it  were  a  long  line  of 
events  in  sequence,  spreading  from  past  to  future  eternity. 

Second,  that  our  Real  Spiritual  Personality  is  akin  to,  is 
in  fact  a  part  of  the  great  Spirit:  we  are  His  offspring  and 
therefore  verily  formed  in  His  Spiritual  image.  It  follows 
that  being  spiritual,  our  real  personality  is  also  not  limited  by 
time  and  space,  and  it  is  by  means  of  this  wider  outlook  that 
we  shall  try  to  understand  what  "  true  Prayer  "  really  means. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  "  Human  Being."  We  find  it  con- 
sists of  Body,  Soul,  and  Spirit.  The  Body  with  its  life  is 
purely  physical;  it  is  built  up  of  the  same  protoplasmic  cell 
(the  foundation  of  all  life)  as  is  the  case  of  not  only  all 
other  animals  but  also  all  plant  life;  it  has  no  free-will  of 
its  own ;  its  wish  must  always  be  in  one  direction,  namely,  in 
the  form  "  Let  my  will  be  done  " ;  it  has  instincts  which  are 
not  wrong  in  themselves,  in  a  purely  animal  nature,  but  certain 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  245 

of  them  are  made  manifest  as  conscious  wrong  when  they  come 
in  contact  and  therefore  in  competition  with  the  spiritual. 
The  Spirit  is  an  emanation  from  and  an  integral  part  of  the 
great  Spirit;  being  purely  spiritual  it  is  not  limited  by  space 
and  must  therefore  be  omnipresent,  and,  being  independent  of 
time,  it  nmst  be  omniscient.  It  cannot  be  said  to  have  any 
free  will  of  its  own;  its  desires  must  always  be  in  the  form 
"  Let  Thy  Will  be  done "  and  all  its  ways  are  perfection. 
This  is  our  "  Real  Personality."  The  Soul  is  the  shadow  or 
presentation  of  our  real  personality  of  the  physical  plane  of 
our  consciousness  under  the  limited  conditions  of  time  and 
space.  It  can  therefore  only  think  in  finite  words;  requires 
succession  of  ideas  to  accumulate  knowledge;  is  dependent  on 
perception  of  movements  for  forming  concepts  of  its  surround- 
ings, and,  without  those  concepts  on  its  plane  of  consciousness, 
it  would  have  no  knowledge  of  existence.  It  constitutes  the 
"  I  am  "  of  our  consciousness,  namely,  that  which  I  have 
called  the  Physical  Ego,  and  has  apparently  only  to  do  with 
the  race.  As  already  pointed  out,  neither  the  spiritual  nor 
the  physical,  the  natures  by  which  the  soul  is  surrounded,  can 
be  said  to  possess  free-will;  they  must  work  in  opposite,  direc- 
tions, but  the  competition  for  influence  over  our  desires  and 
actions  provides  the  basis  for  the  exercise  of  man's  free-will, 
the  choice  between  that  which  is  real  and  that  which  is  only 
shadow,  between  progression  and  stagnation.  The  spiritual 
influence  must  conquer  in  the  long  run,  as  every  step  in  that 
direction  is  a  step  toward  the  real  and  can  never  be  lost. 
The  phvsical  influence,  the  apparent  steps  in  the  other  direc- 
tion, which  are  not  really  wrong  in  a  purely  animal  nature, 
are,  in  the  case  of  the  Soul-man,  only  negative  or  retarding 
and  can  have  no  real  existence,  except  as  a  drag  on  the  wheel 
which  is  always  moving  in  the  direction  of  "  Perfection,"  thus 
hindering  the  process  of  growth  of  the  real  personality. 
When  the  body  dies,  the  mind  or  plane  of  consciousness  upon 
which  the  soul,  the  "  form-shadow  "  of  the  spiritual,  is  cast, 
disappears,  and.  with  it,  necessarily  ceases  the  existence  of  the 
soul  as  a  manifestation,  but  it  then  finds  its  true  being  in  its 
spiritual  originator;  in  other  words,  the  self-conscious  "  I  am  " 
of  the  soul  loses  itself  in  the  conscious  "  I  am  perfected  in 
loving  and  knowing"  of  the  real  spiritual  self,  when  it  at 
last  fullv  realises  its  oneness-with-The-All-Loving.  With 
this  change  all  limitations  and  finiteness  disappear,  because 
when  the  physical  clothing  is  dropped  we  attain  to  "  Reality 


246  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  Being,"  namely  the  spiritual,  of  which  our  real  personality- 
is  a  part,  and  is  therefore  unbounded  by  the  considerations  of 
time  and  space.  Before  passing  from  the  consideration  of 
the  human  being  let  us  realise  how  limited  is  the  outlook  of 
the  intellect.  It  is  only  in  recent  years  that  we  have  been 
able  to  realise  that  it  is  the  invisible  which  is  the  real,  that 
the  visible  is  only  its  shadow  or  manifestation  in  the  physical 
universe,  and  that  time  and  space  have  no  existence  apart  from 
our  corporeal  senses ;  in  short,  that  they  are  only  the  modes 
or  limits  under  which  those  senses  act  or  receive  impressions 
and  by  which  they  are  necessarily  rendered  finite.  We  are 
living  in  a  world  of  continuous  and  multitudinous  changes; 
every  atom  in  the  universe  is  in  motion  with  inconceivable 
velocity,  and  without  those  changes  we  should  have  no  cog- 
nisance of  our  surroundings ;  we  should  have  no  consciousness 
of  existence,  because  our  sense-organs,  being  limited  by  and 
dependent  for  their  very  action  upon  the  two  modes  of  time 
and  space,  require  movement  or  change  for  their  excitation. 
This  follows  from  the  fact  that  the  very  basis  of  perceived 
motion  is  the  product  of  these  two  modes,  namely,  the  time 
that  an  object  takes  to  move  over  a  certain  space. 

Let  us  consider  another  aspect  of  the  finiteness  of  our 
intellectual  outlook.  Under  present  conditions  we  can  only 
think  of  one  finite  subject  at  a  time,  and  at  that  moment  all 
other  subjects  are,  as  it  were,  cancelled ;  we  can,  in  fact,  only 
think  in  sequences ;  we  can  only  think  of  points  in  time  and 
space  as  existing  beyond  or  before  other  fixed  points,  which 
must  again  be  followed  by  other  points ;  we  cannot  fix  a  point 
in  either  so  as  to  preclude  the  thought  of  a  point  beyond. 
The  idea  of  an  "infinite"  is,  therefore,  a  necessary  result  of 
the  limitation  of  our  thoughts.  The  whole  truth  is  there 
before  us,  but  we  can  only  examine  it  in  the  form  of  finite 
sequences.  A  book  contains  a  complete  story,  but  we  can 
only  know  that  story  by  taking  each  word  in  succession  and 
insisting  that  one  word  comes  in  front  of  another,  and  yet 
the  story  is  lying  before  us  complete;  so  with  Creation,  we 
are  forced  to  look  upon  it  as  a  long  line  going  back  to  past 
eternity  and  another  long  line  going  on  to  future  eternity, 
and,  with  our  limitations,  we  can  only  think  of  all  events 
there  as  happening  in  sequence;  but  remove  the  limitation  of 
time  and  we  become  omniscient ;  the  whole  of  Creation  would 
be  lying  before  us  as  the  complete  "  Thought  "of  God. 

All  difficulties  arise  from  the  fact  that  our  physical  senses 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  247 

can  only  perceive  the  surface  of  our  surroundings;  we  have 
hitherto  been  looking  at  the  woof  of  Nature  as  though  it  were 
the  glass  of  a  window  covered  with  patterns,  smudges,  flies, 
etc.,  comprising  all  that  we  call  physical  phenomena,  and  which, 
when  analysed,  in  terms  of  time  and  space,  produce  the  appear- 
ance of  succession  and  motion ;  it  requires  a  keener  perception, 
unbounded  by  those  two  limitations,  to  look  through  the  glass 
at  the  Reality  which  is  beyond.  The  first  step  to  a  clear 
understanding  of  this  is  to  realise  that  it  is  not  we  who 
are  looking  out  upon  Nature,  but  that  it  is  the  Reality  which 
is  ever  trying  to  enter  and  come  into  touch  with  us  through 
our  senses,  and  is  persistently  trying  to  waken  within  us  a 
knowledge  of  the  sublimest  truths;  it  is  difficult  to  realise 
this,  as  from  infancy  we  have  been  accustomed  to  confine 
ourselves  mainly  to  the  "  objective,"  believing  that  to  be  the 
reality. 

Let  me  put  before  you  what  T  consider  one  of  the  greatest 
miracles  of  our  everyday  life,  though  of  commonest  occur- 
rence. We  have  already  seen  that  the  real  personality  of 
each  one  of  us,  being  spiritual,  must  be  independent  of  space- 
limitation,  and  is  therefore  omnipresent,  and  being  independent 
of  time  it  must  be  omniscient.  It  is  from  this  wonderful 
store  of  knowledge  that  our  physical  ego  is  ever  trying  to 
win  fresh  forms  of  thought  and,  in  response  to  our  persistent 
endeavours  to  form  higher  ideals,  that  our  real  inner  self, 
from  time  to  time,  buds  out  a  new  thought,  perhaps  one  that 
has  not  hitherto  been  launched  into  this  world's  realm  of 
mentality.  The  physical  ego  has  already  prepared  the  physi- 
cal clothing  with  which  that  "  bud  "'  must  be  clad  before  it 
can  come  into  conscious  thought,  because,  as  Max  Miiller  has 
clearly  shown,  we  have  to  form  words  before  we  can  think : 
so  does  the  physical  ego  clothe  that  ethereal  thought  in  physical 
language,  and,  by  means  of  its  organ  of  speech,  send  that 
thought  forth  into  the  air  in  the  form  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  vibrations,  of  different  shapes  and  sizes,  some  large,  some 
small,  some  quick,  some  slow,  travelling  in  all  directions  and 
filling  the  surrounding  space.  There  is  nothing  in  those  vibra- 
tions but  physical  movement,  but  each  separate  movement  is  an 
integral  part  or  thread  of  that  clothing.  Another  physical 
ego  receives  those  multitudinous  vibrations  of  means  of  its 
sense-organ,  weaves  them  together  into  the  same  physical 
garment,  and  actually  becomes  possessed  of  that  ethereal 
thought  —  an    unexplained    marvel,    and    probably   the    most 


248  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

wonderful  occurrence  in  our  daily  existence,  especially  as  it 
often  enables  the  recipient  to  gain  fresh  knowledge  from  his 
own  inner  self. 

Now,  in  connection  with  this,  consider  the  fact,  already  em- 
phasised, that  it  is  not  we  who  are  looking  out  upon  nature 
but  that  it  is  the  Reality  which  is  ever  trying  to  make  itself 
known  to  us,  by  bombarding  our  sense-organs  with  the  par- 
ticular impulses  to  which  those  organs  can  respond.  If, 
therefore,  we  wish  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  what  is  behind 
the  physical,  to  decipher  the  meaning  of  that  wonderful 
"  Thought  "  which  we  call  creation,  it  is  clear  that  all  our 
endeavours  must  be  towards  weaving  those  impulses  into 
garments  and  then  learning  from  them  those  messages  which 
the  Reality  is  ever  trying  to  bring  into  our  consciousness; 
all  these  messages,  as  we  shall  see,  culminate  in  the  sublime 
truth  that  the  Reality  is  the  All-Loving  and  that  we  are  one- 
with-Him. 

In  the  last  forty  years  we  have  entered  upon  a  new  era  of 
religion  and  philosophy;  we  hear  no  more  of  the  old  belief 
that  the  study  of  scientific  facts  leads  to  atheism  or  irreligion; 
we  begin  to  see  that  religion  and  science  must  go  hand  in 
hand  towards  elucidating  the  "  Riddle  of  the  Universe." 
Such  a  change  enables  us  even  to  aspire  to  show,  as  I  now 
propose  to  do,  that  it  is  possible,  by  examining  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature,  to  reach  that  point  where  we  may  feel  that 
we  are  actually  listening  to  and  understanding  what  may  be 
called  the  very  thoughts  of  the  Creator;  we  may  even  thereby 
gain,  although  as  through  a  glass  darkly,  a  transient  concep- 
tion of  the  All-Loving,  and  therefore  of  its  offspring,  the 
real  personality  of  each  one  of  us,  and  we  shall  then  better 
understand  the  conditions  under  which  ''  true  Prayer  "  becomes 
a  power  and  "  Everlasting  Life  "  a  reality. 

Remember  that  we  are  only  able  to  examine  the  outside 
of  phenomena,  and  even  then  only  in  the  form  of  physical 
vibrations  or  impulses;  these  phenomena  are  therefore  only 
shadozvs,  but  they  are  shadows  of  the  Reality,  and  every  vibra- 
tion is  an  integral  part  of  the  expression  of  that  wonderful 
"  Thought "  we  call  creation,  as  every  word  in  a  book  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  thought  contained  therein. 

Let  us  try  to  weave  these  physical  impulses  into  garments 
and  attempt  to  learn  from  them  the  spiritual  truths  which  the 
All-Loving  is  ever  trying  to  bring  into  our  hearts. 

I  have  already  pointed  out  that  our  real  personality,  being 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  249 

spiritual  and  therefore  akin  to  the  All-Loving,  may  be  said 
to  have  no  free-will  of  its  own.  Its  will  or  intluence  must 
always  l>e  working  towards  perfection  in  the  form  "  Let  Thy 
Will,  which  is  also  my  will,  be  done  ";  the  eftlcacy  of  its  in- 
fluence depends  upon  its  growth  or  nourishment,  by  the 
knowledge  of  the  Good,  Beautiful,  and  True,  namely,  the 
knowledge  of  God,  ever  bringing  it  more  and  more  into 
perfect  touch  and  sympathy  with  the  All-Loving.  The  power 
of  true  prayer  therefore  depends  upon  two  conditions:  it 
must  be  in  the  form  "  Let  Thy  Will  be  done,"  and  that 
which  prays  must  be  capable  of  making  its  petition  felt  by 
having  already  gained  a  knowledge  of  what  that  Will  is.  If 
now  we  carefully  examine  the  phenomena  around  us,  we  make 
the  extraordinary  discovery  that  this  power  to  influence  by 
sympathetic  action  is  the  very  basis  of  survival  and  progress 
throughout  the  universe.  In  the  organic  world  all  nature 
seems  to  be  praying  in  one  form  or  another,  and  only  those 
plants  and  animals  that  pray  to  each  other  or  to  us  with 
efficacy,  based  upon  the  al)ove  two  conditions,  survive  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  The  economy  of  nature  is  founded 
upon  that  inexorable  law,  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest " ;  every 
organism  that  is  not  in  sympathy  with  its  environment,  and 
cannot  therefore  derive  help  and  nourishment  from  its 
surroundings,  perishes.  Darwin  has  shown  that  the  colours 
of  flowering  plants  have  been  developed  by  the  necessity  of 
attracting  the  bees,  on  whose  visits  depends  the  power  of  plants 
to  reproduce  their  species;  those  families  of  plants  which  do 
not,  as  it  were,  pray  to  the  bees  with  efficacy,  fail  to  attract,  are 
not  therefore  fertilised,  and  disappear  without  successors. 

Darwin  has  also  shown  that  heredity  and  environment  are 
the  prime  influences  under  which  the  whole  organic  world  is 
sustained ;  in  other  words,  every  organism  has  implanted  in  it 
by  heredity  the  principle  of  life,  but  the  conditions  under  which 
it  will  be  possible  for  that  life  to  expand  and  come  to  perfection 
rest  entirely  upon  its  power  to  bring  itself  into  harmony  with 
its  environment.  This  principle  of  life  does  not  come  naked 
into  the  world ;  it  is  fortified  by  heredity  with  the  power  gained 
by  its  parents  in  their  struggle  for  existence  to  get  into  sym- 
pathy with  their  environment.  The  knowdedge  they  gained 
by  the  struggle  they  have  handed  down  to  their  offspring,  thus 
giving  it  the  possibility  of  also  gaining  for  itself  that  knowledge 
of  and  power  to  get  into  sympathy  with  its  environments, 
upon  which  its  future  existence  will  depend.     So  may  we  not 


250  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

see  that  in  the  spiritual  world  those  two  conditions  dominate, 
and  that  it  is  only  by  the  clear  comprehension  of  their  reality 
that  we  can  understand  how  all-important  it  is  for  the  real 
personality  of  each  one  of  us  to  bring  itself  nearer  and  nearer 
into  harmony  with  its  environment,  the  spiritual,  and  how  the 
efficacy  of  prayer  depends  upon  the  knowledge  of  what  is  the 
Will  of  God?  We  have  received  from  our  Spiritual  Father 
the  principle  of  Everlasting  Life  and  the  aspirations  which, 
if  followed,  will  enable  that  "  heaven  ''  within  us  to  expand 
and  come  to  perfection ;  but,  as  in  the  case  of  physical  organ- 
isms, the  gift  is  useless  unless  we  elect  to  use  those  aspirations 
aright  and  gain  thereby  a  knowledge  of  our  spiritual  environ- 
ment, which  alone  can  bring  us  into  sympathy  with  the  All- 
Loving.  Without  that  "  knowledge  of  God  "  we  can  see,  by 
analogy  on  the  organic  plane,  that  "  Everlasting  Life  "  is  im- 
possible :  we  are  as  weeds  which  shall  be  rooted  out.  This  is 
no  figment  of  the  imagination;  it  seems  to  be  the  only  con- 
clusion we  can  come  to  if  nature  is  made  by  nature's  God,  and 
man  is  made  in  the  image  (spiritual)  of  that  God. 

The  power  to  influence  by  sympathetic  action  may  also  be 
seen  in  another  direction.  Consider  the  fact  that  if  we  are  in 
a  room  with  a  piano  and  we  sing  a  certain  note,  say  E  flat, 
we  not  only  hear  that  note  resounding  from  the  piano  but, 
if  we  examine  the  strings,  we  find  that  all  the  E  flats  are 
actually  vibrating  in  sympathy,  because  they  are  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  note  given  out  by  the  voice.  None  of  the 
other  notes  are  responding,  because  they  are  out  of  harmony. 

With  this  simile  in  mind,  let  us  consider  the  curious  fact 
that  a  moth  always  lays  her  eggs  on  that  particular  food- 
plant  upon  which  the  caterpillars,  when  they  hatch  out  of  those 
eggs,  must  feed.  Some  of  you  may,  perhaps,  have  watched 
the  process  of  ovipositing  as  I  have  done,  and  noticed  how 
the  female  moth  will  hover  in  a  peculiar  way  over  different 
plants,  but  does  not  alight  until  she  comes  to  a  plant  near  akin 
to  the  one  she  is  seeking.  She  then  alights,  but  remains  on 
tip-toe,  as  it  were,  with  legs  outstretched  and  wings  quivering, 
and  soon  mounts  again  into  the  air;  it  is  only  when  she 
alights  on  the  proper  food-plant  that  she  knows  her  quest 
is  ended  and  her  eggs  are  laid.  This  particular  plant  has 
no  other  attraction  for  her;  she  takes  her  food  irrespectively 
from  any  other  flower  which  secretes  honey,  and  yet,  when 
she  is  ready  to  fulfil  her  destiny,  she  is  unerringly  drawn 
towards  that  particular  plant  which  alone  will  serve  as  food 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  251 

for  her  offspring.  What  is  this  wonderful  sense?  We  call 
it  instinct,  a  name  which  is  made  to  cover  all  other  senses  in 
the  lower  animals  of  which  we  have  no  knowledge  ourselves. 
Let  us  take  our  own  senses  as  a  guide :  we  find  they  are  all 
based  on  the  appreciation  of  vibrations,  or  frequencies,  of 
greater  or  less  rapidity,  by  means  of  organs  specially  adapted 
to  vibrate  in  sympathy  with  those  pulsations,  and  thus  we  gain 
a  knowledge  of  external  things.  Two  tuning-forks,  or  two 
organ-pipes,  when  vibrating  close  to  each  other,  give  out  a 
pure  musical  note  when  they  are  in  perfect  harmony,  namely, 
Avhen  they  are  of  exactly  the  same  pitch,  and  they  have,  as 
it  were,  rest  together;  but  when  one  is  put  even  slightly  out 
of  harmony  there  is,  in  place  of  a  pure  musical  note,  a  rise 
and  fall  of  sound  in  heavy  throbs  strangely  characteristic  of 
quarrelling;  in  fact,  discord  and  unrest.  In  our  sense  of  hear- 
ing we  can  only  appreciate  up  to  40,000  vibrations  in  a  second 
as  a  musical  sound,  whereas  with  light  and  other  electrical 
phenomena  we  can  appreciate  sympathetic  frequencies  of  not 
only  many  millions  but,  indeed,  millions  of  millions  in  a 
second,^  and  yet  it  is  possible  that  in  the  sense  (of  insects) 
we  are  now  examining,  in  which  the  frequencies  of  life-force 
given  out  by  plant  and  animal  organisms  influence  sym- 
pathetically the  senses  of  other  living  organisms,  we  are  in  the 
presence  of  frequencies  as  far  removed,  numerically,  from 
light  as  light  is  from  sound.  The  life  of  animals  and  plants 
is  the  same ;  their  organisms  are  all  built  up  of  the  same 
protoplasmic  cell;  the  cell  of  each  species  has  its  own  par- 
ticular chemical  form  of  protein,  which  differentiates  it  from 
every  other  species;  this  protein  is  made  up  of  atoms,  each  of 
which,  according  to  its  element,  is  rotating  or  pulsating  at  the 
rate  characteristic  of  that  element ;  the  protoplasmic  cell  of  each 
species  has  therefore,  and  is  giving  out,  a  particular  combina- 
tion of  impulses,  which  I  have  called  its  "  Chord  of  life." 
As  all  these  Etheric  impulses  emanate  from  the  atom,  namely, 
from  the  same  source  as  those  of  the  Hertzian  waves.  Radiant 
heat.  Light,  Actinic,  Magnetic,  Rontgen,  and  other  Ether 
waves,  the  "  Chords  of  life  "  can  be  either  in  harmony  or 
discord  with  each  other  according  to  the  pitches  of  frequency 
which  emanate  from  them. 

If.  then,  we  follow  the  analogy  of  our  highest  senses  we 
seem  to  get  a  clear  explanation  of  the  mystery  of  insect  discrim- 
ination.    The  insect,  in  her  then  state,  could  have  no  pleasure 

1  Vide  Science  and  the  Infinite,  p.    148. 


252  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

in  the  presence  of  certain  plants,  their  modes  of  frequency 
being  discordant  to  that  particular  insect  life;  and  it  may  be 
conceived  that  not  only  is  there  no  inducement  for  the  insect 
to  alight  on  that  plant  but  that,  even  in  its  near  proximity, 
that  insect  life  would  feel  discomfort  and  restlessness;  when, 
however,  a  plant  is  reached  which  is  near  akin  to  the  one 
required  less  antipathy  or  unrest  would  be  felt,  and  when 
the  true  species  of  plant  is  reached  all  would  be  harmony, 
pleasure,  and  rest;  the  functions  of  insect  life  would  be  vivified 
and  its  life-work  accomplished  under  the  influence  of  sympa- 
thetic action.  I  have  made  many  other  investigations  on  this 
subject,  and  find  the  same  power  of  influence  by  sympathetic 
action  between  two  animal  organisms  as  we  have  seen  to  exist 
between  animals  and  plants.^ 

If  we  now  pass  on  and  examine  the  inorganic  world,  we 
make  the  extraordinary  discovery  that  this  power  to  influence, 
based  upon  sympathetic  action,  is  the  very  mainspring  by  which 
physical  work  can  be  maintained.  As  already  pointed  out, 
the  action  of  our  sense-organs  is  based  upon  the  appreciation 
of  vibration  in  the  air  or  in  the  Ether,  of  greater  or  less 
rapidity,  according  to  the  presence  in  those  organs  of  processes 
capable  of  responding  in  sympathy  with  those  frequencies. 
The  limits  of  pitch  within  which  those  senses  can  be  affected 
are  very  small ;  the  ear  can  only  appreciate  about  thirteen 
octaves  in  sound  and  the  eye  less  than  one  octave  in  light; 
beyond  those  limits,  owing  to  the  absence  of  processes  which 
can  be  afifected  sympathetically,  all  is  silent  and  dark  to  us. 
This  capacity  for  responding  under  sympathetic  action  is  not, 
however,  confined  to  organic  senses ;  the  physical  forces  and 
even  inert  matter  are  also  sensitive  to  its  influence  as  I  will 
now  demonstrate. 

In  wireless  telegraphy  it  is  absolutely  necessar}^  that  the 
transmitter  of  the  electro-magnetic  waves  should  be  brought 
into  perfect  sympathy  with  the  receiver:  without  that  condi- 
tion it  is  impossible  to  communicate  at  a  distance.  Again,  a 
heavy  pendulum  or  swing  can,  by  a  certain  force,  be  pushed, 
say,  an  inch  from  its  position  of  rest,  and  each  successive  push 
will  augment  the  swing,  but  only  on  one  condition,  namely, 
that  the  force  must  be  applied  in  sympathy  with  the  mode  of 
swing.  If  the  length  of  the  pendulum  is  fifty-two  feet,  the 
force  must  be  applied  only  at  the  end  of  each  eight  seconds; 
as,  although  the  pendulum  at  first  is  only  moving,  say,  one  inch, 

2  Science  and  the  Infinite,  pp.  84-88  for  other  examples. 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  253 

it  will  take  four  seconds  to  traverse  that  inch,  the  time  it  would 
take  to  traverse  ten  feet  or  more,  and  will  not  be  back  at 
the  original  position  till  the  end  of  eight  seconds.  If  the  force 
were  applied  before  that  time  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  would 
be  hindered  instead  of  augmented.  Even  a  steam  engine  must 
work  under  this  influence  if  it  is  to  be  effective;  there  may 
be  enough  force  in  a  boiler  to  do  the  work  of  a  thousand 
horse-power,  but  unless  the  slide-valve  is  arranged  so  that 
the  steam  enters  the  cylinder  at  exactly  the  right  moment, 
namely,  in  sympathy  with  the  thrust  of  the  piston,  no  work 
would  be  possible. 

To  understand  the  next  example  I  want  to  point  out  that, 
apart  from  physical  qualities,  every  material  lx)dy  has  certain, 
what  may  be  called,  traits  of  character,  which  belong  to  it 
alone:  there  is  generally  one  special  "  partial  "  or  trait,  namely, 
the  characteristic  which  it  is  easiest  for  the  particular  body 
to  manifest, —  what  may  be  called  its  fundamental  note, —  but 
I  shall  show  that  by  sympathetic  action  others  can  be  developed. 

I  have  several  pieces  of  ordinary  wood,  used  for  lighting 
fires,  which  I  have,  as  it  were,  educated,  and  each  of  these 
according  to  its  size  and  density  has  a  special  characteristic. 

If  these  pieces  are  examined  separately,  it  could  hardly  be 
seen  that  they  differed  one  from  another,  except  slightly  in 
length ;  but  throw  them  down  in  succession  on  the  table  and  it 
will  be  heard  that  each  of  them  gives  out  a  clear  characteristic 
note  of  the  musical  scale;  in  fact,  if  thrown  down  in  proper 
order  they  will  play  a  tune.  To  carry  this  subject  a  step 
further :  I  have  a  long  heavy  iron  bar,  about  four  feet  long 
and  two  inches  thick,  so  rigid  that  no  ordinary  manual  force 
can  bend  it  out  of  the  straight,  and,  from  mere  handling,  you 
would  find  it  difficult  to  imagine  that  it  would  be  amena1:)le  to 
gentle  sympathetic  influences;  but  I  have  studied  this  inert 
mass  and,  as  each  person  has  special  characteristics,  some  being 
more  partial  than  others,  say,  to  literary  pursuits,  athletics, 
music,  poetry,  science,  or  metaphysics,  so  I  am  able  to  show 
that  this  iron  mass  has  not  only  a  number  of  these  partials, 
some  of  which  are  extraordinarily  beautiful  and  powerful, 
audible  over  long  distances,  but  that,  by  the  lightest  touch  of 
certain  small  rubbers  not  more  than  an  ounce  in  weight,  each 
of  which  has  been  brought  into  perfect  sympathy  with  one  of 
those  traits,  I  can  make  that  heavy  mass  demonstrate  them 
both  optically  and  audibly;  but  without  those  sympathetic 
touches  it  is  silent  and  remains  an  inert  mass. 


254  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

The  above  result  is  obtained  by  physical  contact  between 
the  rubber  and  iron  bar,  but  I  will  now  carry  this  another 
step  forward  and  deal  with  the  influence  of  sympathetic  action 
at  a  distance  without  material  contact,  or  what  on  the  physical 
plane  may  be  called  prayer  between  two  of  those  rigid  masses. 
From  what  we  have  seen,  it  is  clear  that  the  real  personality 
of  man  could  not  possibly  pray  with  efficacy  to  a  graven 
image;  there  is  nothing  in  sympathy  between  them,  and  with- 
out sympathetic  action  influence  is  impossible;  but  it  is  quite 
possible  for  matter  to  pray  to  matter,  provided  that  the  material 
soul,  if  we  may  use  the  analogy,  is  brought  into  perfect 
sympathy  with  the  material  god,  and  I  will  now  describe  an 
experiment  showing  this  as  taking  place. 

I  have  another  heavy  bar  of  iron,  not  so  long  but  of  the 
same  thickness  as  the  one  already  described,  and  I  have  found 
its  strongest  characteristic.  I  have  a  specially  tuned  rubber, 
fashioned  so  that  its  characteristic  is  capable  of  perfect  sympa- 
thetic action  with  that  of  the  bar,  namely,  that  the  number 
of  vibrations,  in  a  second,  of  the  rubber  is  exactly  equal 
(probably  within  the  one-thousandth  part  of  a  vibration)  to 
those  of  the  iron  mass,  and  it  is  therefore,  as  we  have  seen 
in  the  last  experiment,  able,  by  contact,  to  influence  the  bar 
sympathetically.  The  slightest  touch  throws  the  bar  into  such 
violent  vibration  that  a  great  volume  of  sound  is  produced, 
which  can  be  heard  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  The  result  of 
this  sympathetic  touch  is  far  from  being  transient ;  in  fact  the 
bar  will  continue  to  move  audibly  for  a  long  time.  The  move- 
ment in  the  mass  of  iron  was  started  by  physical  contact,  but 
the  bar,  having  been  once  started  praying,  willing,  or  thinking, 
whichever  you  like  to  call  it,  has  now  the  power  to  affect, 
without  contact,  another  rigid  bar  of  iron  even  when  re- 
moved to  great  distances,  provided  that  the  second  bar 
possesses  a  similar  characteristic,  and  that  that  characteristic 
has  been  brought  into  perfect  sympathy  with  that  of  the  first 
bar.  I  have  a  second  bar  which  fulfils  those  conditions,  and 
although  at  the  outset  it  had  no  power  whatever  to  respond, 
it  has  gradually  been,  as  it  were,  educated,  namely,  brought 
nearer  and  nearer  into  sympathy  with  the  first  bar.  until  it  is 
now  able  to  respond  over  long  distances ;  it  has  acted  across  the 
whole  length  of  one  of  the  largest  halls  in  London  so  strongly 
that  it  could  be  heard  by  all  present.  We  will  now  reverse  the 
process  of  bringing  these  bars  into  sympathy,  and  we  will 
throw  the  bars  out  of  harmony  by  slightly  changing  the  char- 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  255 

acteristic  of  one  of  them;  this  is  done  by  loading  one  of  the 
bars  with  a  weight  less  than  the  hundredth  part  of  an  ounce. 
The  change  is  extremely  small,  quite  unappreciable  by  the 
human  ear,  the  bar  giving  out  as  pure  and  full  a  note  as 
it  did  before  the  alteration  was  made;  in  fact,  the  change  is 
so  slight  that  the  bar  can  still,  with  a  little  force,  be  stimulated 
by  the  same  rubber,  and  yet  the  whole  power  to  inlluence  has 
been  lost ;  the  first  bar,  although  it  is  praying  with  great  force, 
gets  no  response  from  the  second  bar,  and,  even  if  the  bars 
are  now  brought  on  to  the  same  table  and  placed  within  a  few 
inches  of  each  other,  there  is  still  no  reply;  there  is  no  sym- 
pathetic action ;  the  efiicacy  of  prayer  between  the  two  has  been 
completely  destroyed. 

Remember  that  in  the  foregoing  experiments  w^e  have  been 
looking  objectively  upon  physical  phenomena ;  we  are  looking 
outwardly  at  the  "  warp  and  woof  "  of  the  garment  with 
which  the  All-Loving  has  clothed  His  w^ondrous  "  Thought  " 
which  we  call  Creation.  The  presentation  of  this  "  Thought  " 
can  only  come  into  our  finite  plane  of  consciousness  in  the 
form  of  multitudinous  vibrations  in  the  air  and  frequencies  in 
the  Ether,  and  we  are  trying  to  weave  these  physical  impres- 
sions into  a  complete  whole,  so  that  we  may  understand 
subjectively  the  spiritual  truths  which  He  is  persistently  try- 
ing to  awaken  in  our  hearts. 

Do  w^e  not  now^  see  the  spiritual  principle  upon  which  the 
power  of  prayer  depends,  namely,  that  the  whole  object  of  the 
human  soul,  when  using  the  words  "  Thy  Will  be  done,"  is  to 
bring  itself  closer  and  closer  into  perfect  "  loving  and  knowing 
communion"  with  the  All-Loving?  When  that  has  been  ac- 
complished, we  may  understand  from  our  investigations  on  the 
physical  plane  that  not  only  shall  we  and  our  aspirations  be 
influenced  by  the  Divine  Will,  but  that  then  our  wishes,  in  their 
turn,  must  have  great  power  with  God,  and  it  becomes  possible 
for  even  "  mountains  to  be  removed  and  cast  into  the  midst 
of  the  sea." 

How^  truly  the  philosopher  Paul  at  the  beginning  of  our 
era  recognised  that  the  Knowledge  of  God,  w^hich  Christ  Him- 
self tells  us  is  Everlasting  Life,  may  be  gained  by  the  study  of 
the  material  universe;  his  words  w^ere  sadly  overlooked  by 
manv  who.  half  a  century  ago,  were  afraid  that  the  investiga- 
tion of  and  discoveries  in  Science  were  dangerous  to  belief  in 
the  Divine.  He  says  that  the  unrighteous,  namely,  those  Avho 
have  no  knowledge  and  therefore  no  love  of  God,  shall  be 


256  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

without  excuse,  because  "  the  invisible  things  of  him  since  the 
creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  perceived  through 
the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  everlasting  power  and  divin- 
ity "  (Rom  i.  18-20  R.V.). 

We  have  seen  the  truth  of  this  wonderful  statement;  we 
have  traced  the  reflection  of  the  greatest  attribute  of  the  Deity, 
Divine  Love,  on  the  material  plane.  What  has  been  the  result 
of  that  investigation?  We  find  that  throughout  the  whole 
of  nature  the  one  great  universal  power  is  Sympathy.  'Tis 
verily  "  Love  that  makes  the  world  go  round."  What  a  mar- 
vellous conclusion,  and  yet  it  is  the  only  one  we  could  possibly 
have  arrived  at,  because  the  whole  of  Creation  is  the  material- 
isation of  the  very  "  Thoughts  "  of  the  All-Loving.  We 
have  indeed,  in  the  phenomena  of  nature,  the  very  imprint  of 
His  Will;  our  innermost  self  is  an  emanation  from  Him,  and 
prayer  -which,  at  the  beginning,  was  only  a  striving  to  bring 
ourselves  into  harmony  with  that  Will  must,  as  the  spiritual 
self  grows  in  strength  and  knowledge,  become  a  great  power 
working  under  that  universal  principle  of  sympathetic  action. 
True  prayer,  indeed,  becomes  "  Love  in  action,"  and  under 
certain  conditions  prayer  may  actually  be  looked  upon  as  the 
greatest  physical  force  in  nature. 

Now  let  us  carry  this  one  step  further.  Can  we,  by  our 
analogy  of  matter  praying,  understand  why  "  the  Knowledge 
of  God  is  Everlasting  Life "  ?  Look  at  the  first  iron  bar 
and  watch  how,  so  long  as  it  keeps  on  vibrating,  the  second 
bar,  because  it  is  in  sympathy,  will  be  kept  in  motion.  If  it 
were  possible  for  the  first  bar  to  vibrate  for  ever,  the  second 
bar  would,  speaking  materially,  have  everlasting  life.  Now 
apply  this  subjectively  to  our  real  personality :  it  is  being  nour- 
ished; the  knowledge  of  God  is  increasing;  it  is  at  last  per- 
fected in  loving  and  knowing  communion  with  the  All-Loving, 
and  when  for  it  the  material  universe  disappears,  its  affinity 
to  Infinite  Love,  its  oneness-with-the-All-Loving,  must  give 
it  "  Everlasting  Life."  Everything  that  has  not  that  connec- 
tion is  but  a  shadow  which  will  cease  to  exist  when  the  great 
"  Thought  "  is  completed,  the  volition  of  the  Deity  is  with- 
drawn, and  the  physical  universe  ceases  to  be ;  nothing  can  then 
exist  except  that  which  is  perfected,  that  which  is  of  the  essence 
of  God  —  namely,  the  Spiritual.  Perfect  harmony  will  then 
be  supreme ;  such  happiness  as  cannot  be  described  in  earthly 
language,  nor  even  imagined  by  finite  conception ;  hence,  in 
the  many  passages  referring  to  that  wondrous  life  hereafter 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  257 

we  are  not  told  what  heaven  is  Hke,  but  only  what  is  not  to 
be  found  there. 

Lye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard, 

M either  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 

The  things  that  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him. 

As  the  whole  of  the  phenomena  of  nature  is  the  manifestation 
of  the  Divine  Noumenon,  it  follows  that  matter  is  as  Divine 
as  the  Spiritual,  though  not  so  real;  it  is  His  shadow  or  the 
outline  of  His  very  image,  thrown  upon  the  limited  plane  of 
our  consciousness;  and  the  principle  of  sympathetic  action, 
upon  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  whole  power  to  influence 
depends  throughout  the  imiverse,  and  which  gives  us  the 
"  shadow-form "  through  which  we  may  understand  the 
efficacy  of  true  prayer,  namely,  "  Love  in  action,"  and  the 
connection  between  our  spiritual-self  and  the  All-Loving. 

Realise  that  the  real  personality  of  each  one  of  us  is 
Spirit,  and  therefore  akin  to  the  great  Spirit,  not  only  in 
essence  but  in  "  loving  and  knowing  Communion  " ;  then  look 
at  the  various  illustrations  I  have  given,  and  especially  at  my 
last  experiment,  in  which  we  saw  two  material  bodies  (re- 
member they  are  shadow-manifestations  of  the  Reality  behind 
them),  which  could  influence  each  other  owing  to  the  fact  that 
they  were  akin  to  each  other,  not  only  in  substance  but  in 
perfect  sympathetic  communion.  If  now  we  watch  the  shad- 
ows of  two  human  beings  thrown  upon  a  screen,  and  we  see 
those  shadows  shaking  hands  and  embracing  each  other,  are 
we  not  justified  in  concluding  that  those  images  give  us  a 
true  explanation  of  what  is  actually  taking  place?  And  is 
not  this  actually  what  I  have  done?  Have  I  not  shown,  as  I 
proposed  to  do,  that  it  is  possible,  by  examining  the  phenomena 
of  Nature  (the  shadows  of  the  Reality),  to  reach  that  point 
at  which  we  may  even  feel  that  we  are  listening  to,  or  having 
divulged  to  us,  some  of  -what  may  be  called  the  very  thoughts 
of  the  All-Loving? 

We  are  very  apt  to  think  that  all  phenomena  surrounding 
us  are  the  results  of  certain  blind  forces  which  are  working 
under  fixed  laws,  and  that  the  world,  having  once  been  created, 
could  go  on  by  itself  without  the  need  of  a  God.  We  are 
prone  to  look  upon  ever\'thing  as  an  external  work  of  the 
Creator,  similar  to  a  chair  or  a  tal)le  made  by  a  carpenter, 
and  that,  when  once  made,  it  can  to  a  certain  extent  take  care 
of  itself;  whereas  the  phenomena  we  are  looking  at  are  the 


258  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

actual  processes  in  which  God  is  working  out  His  wonderful 
scheme  of  Creation,  the  result  of  His  Will.  Every  leaf  is  the 
manifestation  or  materialisation  of  some  portion  of  that  in- 
stantaneous "  Thought."  Owing  to  our  sense-organs  being 
dependent  upon  the  two  forms  of  time  and  space,  the  meaning 
of  that  thought  can  only  come  through  to  us  in  the  form  of 
physical  phenomena,  as  our  own  thoughts  can  only  be  trans- 
mitted by  physical  language  or  the  material  form  of  written 
symbols.  The  more  we  investigate  the  workings  of  nature, 
the  more  we  become  aware  of  the  wonders  contained  therein, 
and  the  sublime  meaning  of  every  phenomenon,  however  in- 
significant it  may  at  first  appear  to  us.  Man  alone,  with 
his  Divine  attribute  of  free-will,  which  he  has  inherited  from 
the  Fatherhood  of  the  All-Loving,  may  retard  for  an  infinitesi- 
mal time  the  intent  of  the  Divine  Will;  but  woe  to  those  who 
try  to  fight  against  that  inexorable  power;  they  must  be  swept 
into  oblivion;  there  is  no  half-way  house;  you  must  love 
God  or  perish. 

The  Reality  is  the  All-Loving,  and  "  Love,"  which  is  the 
essence  of  God,  comprises  all  that  is  good,  beautiful,  and  true; 
any  action  or  thought  therefore  which  is  antagonistic  to  these 
tends  to  retard  the  scheme  of  creation  and  thus  prevents  God's 
love  from  acting  upon  us ;  it  detracts  from  our  being  an  inte- 
gral part  of  that  "  Thought."  Our  very  existence  is  there- 
fore dependent  upon  what  may  be  called  God's  thought  of 
us,  and  if,  by  wilful  antagonism  to  the  Will  of  God,  we 
prevent  Him  from  thus  thinking  of  us,  or,  as  it  were,  force 
Him  to  forget  us.  we  perish  absolutely  and  wither  away  as 
the  grass  of  the  field,  li,  on  the  contrary,  we  are  ever  en- 
gaged in  exercising  that  spirit  of  love  which  He  has  implanted 
in  us,  and  which  constitutes  our  real  spiritual  personality,  then 
indeed  are  we  calling  down  the  blessing  of  the  All-Loving  on 
our  actions  and  our  life  l)ecomes  full  of  contentment  and  joy. 

Let  us  now  consider  what  true  prayer  really  means.  The 
older  we  grow  and  the  nearer  we  get  to  the  appreciation  of 
what  the  Fatherhood  of  the  All-Loving  really  signifies  to  us, 
the  more,  I  think,  we  must  realise  that  true  prayer  has  nothing 
to  do  with  petitioning  the  Deity  for  the  fulfilment  of  earthly 
desires.  It  may  be  the  easiest  way  in  which  the  use  of 
prayer  can  be  taught  to  children,  as  it  is  in  line  with  the 
anthropomorphic  aspect  under  which  they  acquire  their  idea 
of  God.  They  are  told  that  God  hears  their  prayers,  and 
they  therefore  conclude  that  He  must  have  ears;   He  sees 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  259 

everything  they  do  and  must  have  eyes;  He  walks  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden.  He  is  therefore  similar  to  a  man  and  can 
be  asked  for  favours.  But,  as  we  grow  older,  we  get  beyond 
those  childish  illusions  and  must,  I  think,  find  that  true  prayer 
between  us  and  the  All-Loving  could  hardly  have  efficacy  on 
such  lines  as  asking  directly  for  physical  favours.  However 
good  and  worthy  two  farmers  might  be,  there  would  be  a  diffi- 
culty in  answering  both  their  prayers  if,  on  the  opposite  sides  of 
a  hedge,  the  one  prayed  earnestly  for  rain  to  save  his  crop  of 
late-maturing  grain  from  ruin,  whilst  the  other  farmer  prayed 
just  as  earnestly  but  wanted  dry  weather  urgently  to  gather 
in  his  harvest  of  early  cereals  which  were  already  overripe. 

As  children,  when  governed  by  the  "  objective,"  we  asked 
with  perfect  confidence  for  everything  we  wanted,  however 
trivial,  without  discrimination ;  and  many  people,  even  when 
grown  up,  seem  still  to  make  use  of  prayer  as  though  it  con- 
stituted, as  somebody  has  well  described  it,  "  childish  suppli- 
cations to  a  Divine  Santa  Claus."  Such  praying  for  material 
things,  even  when  combined  with  a  submissive  understanding 
that  God  only  gives  us  what  is  good  for  us,  can  only  result  in 
disappointment  and  may  even  carry  with  it  a  feeling  that  He 
often  seems  indifferent  to  our  requests;  but,  thank  God,  there 
is  that  within  us  which,  as  we  grow  in  knowledge  and  realise 
our  limitations,  tells  us,  with  no  uncertain  voice,  that  the  All- 
Loving  is  only  waiting  patiently  until  we  have  learnt,  perhaps 
by  disappointment,  that  we  are  not  using  prayer  to  Him  in 
the  right  way.  We  are  at  first  praying  objectively  as  chil- 
dren pray  to  their  earthly  parents,  but,  with  the  growth  of  our 
real  spiritual  personality,  we  see  that  we  must  put  away  childish 
thoughts  and  commune  subjectively,  as  spirit  to  spirit,  before 
prayer  can  become  effective  between  ourselves  and  God :  when 
that  has  been  realised  we  find  that  the  All-Loving  is  always 
present  with  us  and  ever  more  willing  to  grant  than  we 
to  ask. 

All  Divine  thoughts  and  desires  emanate  from  the  spiritual ; 
true  prayer  is  not  asking  for  earthly  favours,  but  is  a  com- 
munion with  God,  and  is  only  possible  when  we  have  thrown 
open  the  doors  and  windows  of  our  being,  so  that  His  love 
may  find  entrance  thereto.  The  action  of  true  prayer  is.  as 
it  were,  the  reflection  of  that  love  back  to  the  All-Loving  from 
our  inner  consciousness,  as  light  is  reflected  from  a  mirror. 
It  is  necessary  to  keep  that  mirror  bright  by  constant  use,  for 
only  then  can  the  All-Loving  be  ever  influencing  our  lives. 


26o  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

It  is  kept  bright  not  by  belief  in  obsolete  dogmas  or  by  theo- 
logical discussions  but  by  the  simple  faith  comprised  in  the 
three  words  "  God  is  Love,"  which  we  know  to  be  true  religion, 
because  it  helps  us  to  know  the  All-Loving  and  prevents  us 
from  straying  away  from  that  Truth. 

The  effect  of  the  All-Loving  being  reflected  within  us  en- 
ables us  to  realise  that  His  sanctuary,  or  what  we  call  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  is  within  us,  and  that  we  are  so  far  one- 
with-Him  that  He  is  able  to  make  us  feel  at  times  that  He 
is  speaking  to  us  in  heavenly  language.  Just  as  asking  for 
material  gifts  is  natural  between  man  and  man,  so  is  true 
prayer  a  perfectly  natural  action  between  spirit  and  spirit. 

There  is  embedded  in  every  man  a  strong  impulse,  especially 
in  times  of  trouble  and  sorrow,  to  pray  and  worship,  a  great 
longing  to  know  and  love  God.  One  of  the  greatest  incentives 
to  pray  to  God  is,  I  suppose,  the  feeling  that  there  is  nobody 
else  to  whom  we  can  turn  for  help  and  consolation.  A  very 
young  child  would,  under  such  circumstances,  not  pray  to 
God  but  would  rush  to  its  mother's  arms,  and  all  its  troubles 
and  fears  would  vanish  immediately  it  found  itself  enfolded 
in  those  loving  arms. 

The  act  of  submission,  entailed  in  attaining  to  the  state 
of  mind  which  accompanies  true  prayer,  must  have  been 
brought  home  to  many  people  during  their  lives.  Let  me 
give  my  own  experience  of  its  practical  use.  I  do  not  know 
when  or  how  I  first  began  the  habit,  but  when  quite  young 
I  found  a  great  help  in  saying  over,  mentally,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  when  confronted  by  difficult  problems;  it  took  but 
half  a  minute  and  I  was  always  surprised  at  the  change  which 
followed.  Many  people,  no  doubt,  remember  the  state  of 
uneasiness,  perhaps  even  amounting  to  a  feeling  of  hopeless- 
ness, with  which,  at  an  important  examination,  the  first  sight 
of,  say,  a  mathematical  paper  inspired  them,  especially  if  the 
time  allowed  seemed  inadequate.  I  am  sure  that  on  many 
occasions  I  was  greatly  helped  by  the  fact  that,  after  saying 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  I  was  in  a  much  better  state  of  mind  for 
tackling  difficult  problems.  Though  it  is  now  a  long  time  ago 
I  can  still  remember  the  change  of  aspect  which  followed  the 
repetition ;  it  was  as  though  all  care  and  anxiety  had  vanished 
from  the  mind,  and  thereby  perhaps  unconscious  cerebration, 
which  often  soars  beyond  the  intellect,  was  able  to  assert  itself. 
The  Lord's  Prayer  is  in  the  form  of  praise  rather  than  petition 
and  has  certainly  nothing  to  do  with  solving  mathematical 


SCIENCE  AND  MYSTICISM  261 

problems,  and  1  have  given  it  as  an  example  to  show  the  great 
power  that  the  very  act  of  true  prayer,  without  articulate 
speech,  has  over  the  mind  of  him  who  prays  subjectively. 
The  act  of  submission  to  a  higher  Will  carries  with  it  a 
wonderful  consoling  inlluencc  when  that  higher  Will  is  known 
to  be  the  All-Loving. 

Intellectualism  is  responsible  for  many  difficulties  which 
beset  the  path  of  the  de\out  in  his  attempt  to  get  into  loving 
and  knowing  communion  with  the  All-Loving.  These  diffi- 
culties look  very  real  until  we  face  them  and  find  them  to  be 
illusions.  The  first  step  is  to  realise  that  prayer  is  a  perfectly 
natural  act.  W^e  have  seen  that  all  nature  is  praying  in  one 
form  or  another,  and  that  it  is  only  those  plants  and  animals 
that  pray  with  efficacy  which  survive  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence; prayer,  or  the  influencing  by  sympathetic  action,  is 
universal  on  the  material  plane  and  is  therefore  natural ;  and 
so  on  the  spiritual  plane  it  is  only  those  who  are  capable  of 
true  prayer,  namely,  those  who  have  exercised  their  natural 
privilege  of  being  in  loving  and  knowing  communion  with  the 
All-Loving,  who  can  attain  to  the  life  hereafter. 

Perhaps  the  illusion  which  presents  the  greatest  difficulty 
to  timid  souls  who  are  "  seeking  after  God  if  haply  they  may 
find  Him  "  is  that  raised  by  intellection  in  the  appalling  idea 
of  humcnsity:  how  can  one  pray  to  and  therefore  love  a 
Being  Who  is  absolutely  Perfect,  Who  comprises  all  Space, 
all  Time,  all  Power,  and  all  Knowledge?  How  can  I,  a  mere 
speck  in  the  universe,  influence  Him?  How  can  such  a  Being 
be  moved  by  such  a  slight  force  as  a  whispered  prayer?  Let 
me  try  and  exorcise  this  phantom,  in  its  connection  with  true 
prayer,  by  an  illustration  on  the  physical  plane. 

Consider  this  fact :  every  atom  in  the  universe  is  in  such 
intimate  connection  with  the  whole  that  it  actually  pulls  every 
other  atom  towards  it.  Now  think  for  a  moment  what  this 
action  of  gravitation  means.  Every  atom  affects  every  other 
atom  and  the  influence  is  instantaneous;  no  atom  can  therefore 
be  moved,  however  slightly,  without  every  other  atom  in  the 
whole  universe  at  once  being  influenced  by  that  displacement. 
Now  consider  the  enormous  mass  of  the  moon  rushing  at  two 
thousand  miles  per  hour  round  the  earth  which,  itself  sixty- 
four  times  the  size  of  the  moon,  is  rushing  at  sixty  thousand 
miles  per  hour  round  the  sun.  Then  think  of  the  huge  masses 
of  Tupiter  and  Saturn,  each  a  thousand  times  larger  than  the 
earth,  and  the  sun  a  thousand  times  larger  than  Jupiter;  then 


262  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

think  of  the  influence  which  one  of  your  fingers  exerts  upon 
every  atom  in  those  mighty  bodies.  If  you  but  raise  your 
finger,  the  sun  and  all  its  attendant  planets  are  actually  pulled 
out  of  their  different  courses  by  that  movement;  and  the  effect 
of  that  infinitesimal  action  will  ever  remain  indelibly  present, 
in  the  character  of  those  courses,  until  for  the  solar  system 
time  shall  be  no  more.  When  we  have  fully  grasped  the  signif- 
icance of  this  on  the  physical  plane,  how  clearly  may  we 
understand,  not  only  that  the  "  Powers  of  Evil,"  as  we  were 
taught  in  our  childhood  days,  may  well  tremble  when  they 
see  the  weakest  saint  upon  his  knees,  but  that  our  prayers, 
however  feeble  we  may  think  them,  are  always  dear,  beyond 
human  conception,  to  the  All-Loving. 

We  come  back  to  the  wonderful  truth  that  embedded  deep 
down  in  our  nature  there  is  the  aspiration  to  realise  the  Father- 
hood of  God,  and  that,  based  upon  that  realisation,  true 
prayer  becomes  that  communion  with  the  All-Loving  by  which 
we  gradually  learn  what  is  the  Will  of  God  in  His  scheme 
of  creation  and  the  special  part  which  He  has  destined  to  each 
one  of  us  for  carrying  that  scheme  to  completion.  The  more 
we  commune  and  grow  in  that  knowledge  the  more  are  we 
able  to  realise  that  oneness,  or  I  would  even  say  that  equality, 
with  Him,  as  a  child  to  a  loving  Father,  upon  which  life  in 
the  spiritual  world  seems  to  depend. 

I  have  tried  to  point  out  the  difference  between  the  two 
forms  of  prayer:  the  one  is  that  wherein  specific  earthly  gifts 
are  begged  for  by  the  finite  "  physical  ego,''  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  can  only  result  in  disappointment,  or  even  the  doubting 
of  the  ability  or  Will  of  God  to  answer  our  petitions;  and  the 
other  wherein  our  real  spiritual  personality  finds  itself  in 
perfect,  loving,  and  knowing  communion  with  the  All-Loving, 
and  receives  the  all-satisfying  gift  of  spiritual  discernment. 

The  power  of  prayer  therefore  increases  with  the  growth 
within  us  of  the  knowledge  of  the  All-Loving  and,  with  that 
growth,  which  is  the  sole  nourishment  of  our  real  spiritual 
personality,  ever  comes  the  desire  to  submit  our  will  absolutely 
to  His  influence.  The  act  of  "  true  prayer,"  namely,  "  Love 
in  action,"  is  the  very  life  and  growth  of  the  spiritual  part  of 
each  one  of  us ;  upon  that  growth  depends  our  power  to  realise 
that  we  are  verily  one  with  Him  in  loving  and  knowing  com- 
munion, and  the  only  form  of  prayer  therefore  possible  between 
us  and  the  All-Loving  is : 

Let  Thy,  Will,  which  is  also  mine,  be  done. 


XI 

THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY 

BY 

The  Rev.  W.  ARTHUR  CORNABY 

WESLEYAN     METHODIST     MISSION,     HANKOW,     CHINA 


XI 

THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY 

Prayer  is  such  an  integral  part  of  Divine  worship  that  had 
one  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets  set  himself  to  write  an 
essay  on  the  subject  he  would  almost  certainly  have  begun 
and  continued  with  what  is  now,  perhaps,  an  easily  forgotten 
consideration,  namely,  that  the  practice  of  prayer  is  a  positive 
requirement  of  an  authoritative  God. 

The  reason  for  the  omission  of  this  aspect  of  the  case  from 
so  many  modern  treatises  on  prayer  may  be  found  in  the 
fading  away  of  all  absolute  authority  from  the  realm  and 
from  the  family  in  our  Western  world,  although  it  has  been 
cherished,  until  the  last  few  years,  as  a  most  sacred  essential 
throughout  that  Eastern  continent  which  gave  us  the  Bible, 
and  which  has  given  the  world  all  the  great  religions  of  the 
present  day.  The  theology  of  Western  hearts,  if  not  of 
Western  intellects,  has  been  unconsciously  modified  by  the 
trend  of  national  politics  and  domestic  manners,  until  we  are 
finding  it  hard  to  realise,  as  a  fact  of  dynamic  consequence, 
that  absolute  authority  is  still,  as  of  old,  an  essential  attribute 
of  our  King  and  Father  on  high. 

But  the  Old  Testament  assuredly  centres  around  the  two 
w^ords  must  and  ought.  And  in  the  New  Testament  (cf. 
Jeremiah  xxxi.  31-33)  these  two  words  are  regarded  as  graven 
on  the  hearts  of  God's  people  —  an  inward  impulse  now  (2 
Cor.  V.  14),  as  once  they  were  a  pressure  from  without. 

"  Thou  must  worship  the  Lord  thy  God  "  is  the  forceful 

fiat  of  the  Law,  with  some  appeals  to  the  conscience  added. 

True,  these  exact  words  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  Decalogue, 

but  they  lie  at  the  heart  of  all  the  commands  given  under 

Moses.     The  prohibition  to  bow  down  before  graven  images, 

for  instance,  is  but  the  obverse  of  the  perpetual  behest  to  bow 

down,  in  submissive  prayer  as  well  as  adoring  praise,  before 

the  Most  High.     And  all  the  authoritative  arrangements  for 

the  services  of  the  Tabernacle   (which  was  intended  to  give 

place  to  a  more  solid  temple)    were  to  establish  on  earth  a 

House  of  Prayer  for  all  nations. 

26s 


266  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

"  Thou  oughtest  to  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  seeking  Him 
while  He  may  be  found,  and  calHng  upon  Him  while  He  is 
near,"  is  the  fervent  appeal  of  the  prophets,  with  a  back- 
ground of  forceful  circumstance  that  embodied  the  must  of 
the  Law. 

It  was  thus  that  the  pious  Jews  read  their  Bibles.  Indeed, 
in  the  Talmud  (Berachoth,  lob),  one  of  them  goes  so  far 
as  to  say :  "  Every  one  that  eateth  and  drinketh,  and  only  after 
that  ofifereth  prayer,  of  him  the  Scripture  saith :  *  But  Me  thou 
hast  cast  behind  thy  back.'  "  And  again:  "  It  is  forbidden  to 
a  man  to  go  about  his  business  before  praying." 

None  of  us  is  a  bond-slave  to  any  over-lord,  a  SoiiAos  to  any 
Seo-TTOTT/?  (the  words  used  by  the  aged  Simeon,  Luke  ii.  29) 
upon  earth;  and  in  our  modern  revolt  from  authority  (other 
than  that  of  the  laws  of  the  realm,  which  we  help  to  make) 
there  may  be  among  us  a  lurking  dislike,  or  even  an  uncon- 
fessed  resentment,  in  regard  to  the  "  despotism  "  enshrined  in 
the  Scriptural  revelation  of  God,  throughout  the  New  as  well 
as  the  Old  Testament.  We  must  therefore  open  our  hearts 
to  the  truth,  so  often  used  by  Moses  and  the  prophets,  by 
Christ  and  the  apostles,  that  this  "  despotism  "  of  the  Most 
High  is  of  an  altogether  benevolent  order,  and  that  His  fiats, 
requiring  our  obedience,  are  but  thinly  veiled  expressions  of  a 
majestic  lovingkindness  that  imperatively  yearns  alike  for  our 
personal  love  and  for  our  truest  blessedness. 

In  the  two  regions  of  the  school-room  and  the  battlefield 
absolute  authority  has  perforce  been  retained  as  of  yore.  As 
it  is  a  good  thing  for  young  minds  to  be  under  orders  to 
learn  the  tasks  that  will  best  train  them  for  manhood  and 
womanhood,  so  it  were  a  beneficent  thing  for  young  hearts  to 
realise  their  imperative  obligation  to  pray  to  their  Father  in 
heaven,  that  thus  they  may  become  men  and  women  of  God. 
And  in  the  midst  of  all  unbidden  doubt  and  perplexity  concern- 
ing the  efficacy  of  prayer,  it  were  a  bracing  stimulus  for  us  to 
realise  that  we,  no  less  than  the  soldier  at  the  front,  are  under 
orders  in  the  matter.  The  soldier  is  not  required,  any  more 
than  we  are,  to  grasp  all  the  reasons  for  the  commands 
issued ;  but  the  fact  of  his  being  under  the  orders  of  a  trusted 
commander  is  itself  sufficient  impetus  towards  the  output  of 
his  utmost  energy.  Without  stopping  at  every  point  to  ask 
the  reason  why,  the  imperative  must  carries  him  on  to  deeds 
of  true  prowess  and  daring. 

As  a  fact,  the  wise  schoolmaster  is  wont  to  explain  as  well 


THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY  267 

as  command,  and  the  modern  soldier  has  often  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  the  why  and  wherefore  of  the  enterprise  before 
him.  But  that  is  only  after  each  has  loyally  accepted  his 
bounden  duty  of  obedience.  They  must  first  "  do  the  will "  if 
they  are  to  know  aught  of  the  doctrine.  And  it  is  to  loyally 
prayerful  souls  rather  than  to  wise  and  prudent  philosophers,  as 
such,  that  insight  is  given  concerning  the  value  of  prayer. 
We  must  learn  to  pray  habitually  and  ardently  if  we  would 
gain  such  enlightenment  as  may  carry  our  whole  intellect  with 
us  into  the  prayers  and  intercessions  of  our  hearts  before 
God. 

Starting  with  the  fact  that  prayer  is  a  positive  requirement, 
based  on  the  all-gracious  desires  of  God,  the  general  subject 
is  cleared  in  several  respects. 

No  petitions  of  impertinent  selfishness  (such  as  those  de- 
scribed in  James  iv.  3)  are  worthy  to  be  called  prayer,  if 
prayer  is  part  of  the  worship  of  God.  And  some  of  the 
maxims  of  Jesus  are  more  than  half  explained,  with  the  fact 
of  our  Father's  absolute  authority  as  their  background. 

"  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,"  for  instance,  is  a  promise  so 
exceedingly  broad  that  it  may  have  failed  to  become  a  practical 
incentive  to  us.  But  what  was  in  the  mind  of  the  Master  was 
evidently  a  child's  request,  proffered  to  a  Father  Who  is  re- 
garded (as  parents  are  in  Asia  to-day)  as  the  absolute  owner 
and  disposer  of  His  children.  And  thus  the  request  would  be 
made  in  entire  submissiveness. 

Furthermore,  if  God  in  His  mercy  requires  us  to  pray  for 
the  things  He  most  earnestly  longs  to  give  us,  all  such  coaxing 
and  bribing  as  are  practised  to  win  favours  from  the  heathen 
gods  of  Asia  (methods  which  no  good  son  would  dare  to  use 
toward  his  parents)  are  completely  ruled  out.  Nothing  sa- 
vouring of  tautological  babblings  or  of  "  vain  oblations  "  is 
admissible.  Yet,  as  we  are  also  taught  that  prayer  to  be 
eflfectual  must  be  persistent,^  our  force  of  persistency  to  gain 
what  God  wants  us  to  gain  must  in  some  way  or  other  fulfil 
certain  necessary  conditions  for  our  own  receptivity,  or  the 
receptivity  of  others,  if  our  prayers  be  intercessory.  Much 
.then  may  be  gained  toward  the  clarification  of  the  subject  if 

1  Our  "  seeking  "  is  explained  by  Jesus  as  comparable  in  earnestness  to  that  of  an 
oppressed  seeker  for  justice,  wailinff  her  reiterated  requests  (as  one  has  heard  her  in 
China)  at  the  sullen  yamcn  entrance.  Our  "  knockinR  "  is  to  resemble  that  vigorous 
and  prolonped  determination  to  take  no  denial,  which  banps  "  shamelessly  "  at  a 
closed  Asiatic  door  at  night  (an  exercise  in  which  one's  own  palms  have  ached  before 
now,  on  arriving  late  at  a  certain  town,  when  the  neighbours,  more  wakeful  than 
one's  friend,  did  indeed  loudly  grumble!). 


268  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

we  give  due  prominence  to  that  consideration  which  lies  at  the 
basis  of  all  Scriptural  teaching  on  prayer. 

One  characteristic  of  the  wisdom  of  our  great  Teacher  is 
found  in  the  high  value  which  He  placed  upon  the  child,  and 
on  the  child-heart  in  those  who  are  no  longer  juvenile.  In  the 
child-heart  He  saw  the  elements  of  simplicity  and  spontaneous- 
ness,  of  longings  for  affection  and  sensitiveness  towards  kind- 
ness, of  adaptability  to  all  teaching  that  is  loving  and  winsome. 
And  in  the  ordinary  relations  of  little  children  towards  their 
parents  He  saw  the  rightful  relations  of  all  human  souls 
toward  their  God.  The  Realm  of  God  (as  He  proclaimed  it) 
was  to  be  a  realm  of  child-hearts.  And  in  the  model  prayer 
which  He  gave  to  His  disciples,  not  only  is  the  whole  attitude 
a  filial  one  but  the  petition  for  daily  bread  is  one  which  best 
fits  the  mouth  of  a  little  child,  in  its  trustful  dependence; 
while  the  petition  against  temptation  (which  none  can  avoid) 
is  surely  the  naive  petition  of  the  child-heart  in  its  nervous 
shrinking  from  anything  which  might,  through  a  possible 
blunder,  be  an  occasion  of  losing  the  smile  of  a  parent  beloved. 

It  is  a  legitimate  inference  from  our  Lord's  teaching  that  He 
regarded  prayer,  not  only  as  a  positive  requirement  of  a  gra- 
cious Father  in  Heaven  but  as  a  normal  exercise  of  the  child- 
heart  of  humanity  everywhere. 

But  if  prayer  be  normal  to  the  child-heart  of  humanity  at 
large,  we  may  expect  to  find  it  noticed  in  other  old  writings  than 
the  Scriptures  of  Western  Asia.  The  normal  may  have  been 
repressed  for  centuries  by  the  supposed  findings  of  "  wise  and 
prudent  "  philosophy,  or  the  imaginings  of  senseless  supersti- 
tion, or  by  a  general  forgetfulness  of  the  Highest,  but  some- 
where along  the  highways  or  by-ways  of  ancient  literature, 
other  than  that  of  Judaea,  we  may  expect  to  find  evident 
traces  of  it.  And  here  and  there  in  the  old  books  of  a  quarter 
of  the  human  race  in  East  Asia,  we  do  indeed  find  jottings  on 
the  subject  resembling  prehistoric  pictures  scratched  upon  rocks 
—  mere  outlines,  it  is  true,  but  with  considerable  force  and 
correctness  of  outline. 

We  must  first  note  that  the  supreme  object  of  ancient 
Chinese  prayers  was  written  either  as  "  Heaven  "  {T'ien  ^, 
described,  in  connection  with  such  usage,  in  the  great  Han 
Dynasty  dictionary  as  composed  of  —  one  and  ^  great: 
"  the  One  that  is  great,  exalted  in  the  highest  " ;  the  equiva- 
lent of  "  Heaven-Spirit,  the  leader  forth  [or  pro-ducer]  of 
all  things  "),  or  else  as  "  Sovereign  on  High,"  or  "  Sovereign 


THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY  269 

Supreme  "  (Sliang  Ti,  whom  Protestant  missionaries  regard 
as  tlie  "  Most  High  God  "  of  Melchisedek).^ 

Of  the  Most  High  the  Book  of  Odes  (dating  back  in  parts 
to  1 100  B.C.)  says: 

Great    is    God ! 
Down-bending  in  majesty; 
Surveying  ail  regions ; 
Seeking  the  peace  of  the  people. 

In  Other  Odes,  as  in  the  "  Canon  of  History,"  He  is  declared 
to  be  possessed  of  goodness  for  the  good,  and  retributive  justice 
for  the  bad,  which  makes  Him  a  not  unworthy  object  of  wor- 
ship. An  ancient  proverb  (quoted  by  the  historian  of  the 
Chin  Dynasty  records  in  the  third  century  a.d.)  says:  "  God, 
the  Highest,  Hstens  to  the  lowHest."  This  appears  as  a  deduc- 
tion from  one  of  the  Odes  which  begins : 

O  vast,  enduring-  God, 

Which  art  called  (our)   Father-Mother! 

And  an  affirmation  that  prayer  to  the  Highest  is  normal  to 
the  innermost  heart  of  humanity  is  found  in  one  of  the  two 
ancient  essays  which  have  come  dowai  to  us  from  the  hero 
of  the  "  Dragon  Boat  Festival."  the  statesman  Ch'u  Yuan 
(332-295  B.C. ),^  who  says  :  "  God  is  man's  Source,  and  when 
oppressed  with  need  he  reverts  to  his  original  child-disposi- 
tion.* For  when  overwrought  and  overweary,  who  is  there 
that  does  not  cry  to  God?  " 

And  to  this  day  in  China,  in  all  the  higher-grade  novels,  and 
in  real  life  too,  those  who  deem  themselves  suffering  from  in- 
tolerable wrong  are  wont  to  call  out:  "God!  God!"  (T'ien! 
T'ien!),  even  as  Confucius  when  misunderstood  said.  "It  is 
God  Who  knows  me."  Or  when  in  extreme  danger,  as  from 
the  bursting  of  a  storm  on  their  little  boat  in  mid-Yangtse, 
it  is  to  God  that  they  cry,  rather  than  to  any  demi-god  or  to 
their  ancestors. 

The  primal  instinct  of  the  child-heart  of  the  race  may  have 
become  overlaid  with  the  debris  of  the  ages,  but  a  great  anguish, 

2  The  second  of  these  two  terms  being  anciently  regarded  as  a  personal  name, 
was   used   sparingly   from   motives   of   reverence. 

3  Like  the  more  ancient  statesman  who  uttered  the  couplet  just  quoted,  he  was 
the  victim  of  calumny  and  his  words  contain  a  reference  to  that  earlier  Ode.  To 
impress  his  admonitions  on  the  mind  of  his  Prince  he  drowned  himself  in  the  river 
Milo;  whereupon  that  Prince  relented,  and  sent  his  own  royal  (dragon)  barge  to 
search  for  his  body,  thus  instituting  the  annual  custom  of  the  fifth  day  of  the 
fifth    moon. 

4  This  reversion  to  the  child-condition  has  a  striking  exemplification  in  the  fact  that 
Chinese  adults,  and  even  grey-haired  men,  when  suffering  acute  pain,  wail  out,  "  My 
mother!     My  mother!  " 


270  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

or  an  imminent  peril,  would  seem  to  pierce  down  to  the  depths, 
as  in  the  boring  of  an  artesian  well.  And  prayer  to  God 
gushes  up  unbidden.^ 

Among  the  jottings  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  collected  by 
his  brother  William,  is  the  sentence :  "  There  are  moments 
when  Truth  must  come,  not  as  the  serene  dawn  but  as  jagged 
lightnings."  And  through  the  crashing  thunder  of  a  continent 
in  explosion,  in  how  many  cases  has  not  that  saying  been 
verified?  So  with  the  saying  of  the  Far  Eastern  statesman, 
Ch'u  Yuan:  "  Happy  indeed  are  they  who,  from  earliest  days, 
have  learnt  the  lessons  so  truly  belonging  to  the  serene  dawn 
of  childhood;  who  have  learnt  to  revere  their  Father-Mother 
in  Heaven  from  their  parents  on  earth ;  who  have  been  trained 
up  in  the  Way  Everlasting,  so  that  they  depart  not  from  it  in 
later  years,  and  are  not  affrighted  at  any  sudden  calamity,  but 
make  their  prayer  unto  God,  as  they  did  aforetime!  " 

One  great  use  of  times  of  upheaval  and  anxiety,  or  of  sym- 
pathetic anguish,  is  that  these  distressful  periods  bring  the 
soul  to  the  actual  spot  where  so  many  of  the  Hebrew  psalms 
were  made.  Committing  our  case  to  a  God  grown  intimate 
through  our  having  to  "pray  more  earnestly"  (Luke  xxii. 
44),  we  find  ourselves  in  the  very  place  where  those  of  old 
wrote  words  that  may  have  grown  familiar  to  us,  but  are  now 
endowed  with  magic  life,  almost  as  though  in  some  great 
painting,  on  which  we  have  often  gazed,  the  figures  became  en- 
dowed with  speech  and  movement  before  our  eyes. 

We  then  understand  that  these  old  psalms  were  made  of 
stress  of  circumstance  plus  a  majestic  God  Who  was  realised 
to  be  greater  than  all  mundane  circumstance. 

The  local  upheavals  of  the  psalmists'  days  seemed  as  great 
to  them  as  any  wide-spread  upheaval  is  to  us.  Our  soul  im- 
peratively cries  for  a  God  as  great  as  their  God.  And,  seek- 
ing Him  diligently,  we  find  Him  indeed  to  be  vaster  than  His 
whole  universe,  and  greater  than  the  appalling  sum-total  of 
human  sin  and  woe.  And  we  realise  that,  given  a  sufficient 
hold  on  God  the  Immeasurable,  by  prayer  and  supplication, 
even  the  great  war  of  the  twentieth  century  must  in  the  end 
merge  in  a  majestic  psalm. 

5  Dr.  Knox.  Bishop  of  Manchester,  preaching  on  the  sands  at  Blackpool,  told  a 
story  of  a  miner  who  called  himself  an  infidel.  One  day  in  the  mine  some  coal 
began  to  fall,  and  the  man  cried  out,  "Lord,  save  me!"  Then  a  fellow-miner 
turned  to  him  and  said,  "Ah!  there's  nowt  like  cobs  o'  coal  to  knock  th'  infidelity 
out  o'  a  man."  Yes,  men  may  try  to  keep  down  the  instinct  of  prayer,  but  there  are 
times  in  every  life  when  it  will  be  heard  (Quoted  in  Hastings'  Christian  Doctrine  of 
Prayer,  p.  4). 


THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY  271 

Such  a  psalm  lias  surely  been  made  on  the  heavenly  side 
among  those  who  have  been  hurried,  ])raying  as  they  passed, 
into  the  ineffable  Presence.  And  God  is  teaching  the  old  craft 
of  psalm-making  to  many  survivors  on  earth,  even  if  their 
psalms  be  made  of  thoughts  and  emotions  too  deep  for  words. 

Those  too  who  are  devoted  to  the  ministry  of  holy  things, 
whose  lives  have  been  scorched  and  singed  by  the  prolonged 
warfare,  must  now  feel  a  new  relatedness  to  the  prophets 
of  old,  whose  days  were  days  of  upheaval,  and  whose  writ- 
ings can  only  be  appreciated  to  the  full  in  similar  circumstances. 
For  no  intense  literary  outflow  of  soul  can  be  read  to  the  best 
advantage  in  the  midst  of  a  placidity  that  was  quite  foreign 
to  the  world  of  the  writers  thereof. 

These  modem  students  and  heralds  of  Truth,  if  haply  they 
grasp  the  Hand  Almighty  that  upheld  their  ancient  comrades 
through  the  waters  and  the  fire,  will  surely  be  gaining  a  new 
insight  into  the  meaning  and  powder  of  prayer,  and  its  exceed- 
ing value.  It  w^as  thus  that  the  prophets  of  old  became 
prophets,  and  the  Lord  God  is  surely  arousing  and  calling,  in 
these  days,  a  new  race  of  prophets  with  messages  direct  from 
the  Throne  and  eloquence  born  of  a  soul  aflame. 

But  especially  is  the  Creator  calling  forth  a  new  order  of 
angels  from  among  the  faithful  on  earth  —  ministering  spirits 
clad  in  mortal  bodies,  whose  willing  hearts  shall  upbuild  His 
Realm  immortal  upon  earth,  and  whose  soul-forces,  linked  with 
the  Divine,  shall  administer  untold  blessedness  to  human  lives 
by  their  intercessions. 

If  a  note  of  personal  experience  may  be  given,  the  writer 
could  tell  of  some  periods  of  daily  peril, ^  when  the  Divine 
Presence  became  a  vivid  reality;  when  all  fear  of  death  was 
banished,  although  it  might  happen  at  any  moment;  and 
when  each  earnest  prayer  offered  by  kith  and  kin,  or  prayer- 
comrade  afar,  meant  an  uplifting  force  whose  impact  on  the 
soul  w^as  unmistakable,  always  making  a  difference,  and  some- 
times all  the  difference. 

The  long  series  of  authentic  experiences  has  forced  home 
the  conviction  that  here,  surely,  is  just  the  sacred  dynamic 
which  the  Scriptures  would  lead  us  to  expect  from  the  strenu- 
ous output  of  soul-energies  which  at  once  lay  hold  on  God 
and  on  the  soul  it  is  desired  to  bless.  And  the  practical  argu- 
ment is  that,  if  with  hearts  akin  and  already  receptive,  this 

6  Chiefly   during  the   Yangtse  Valley   riots  of    1891    and  some  months  of  the   Boxer 
year,   1900. 


2.^2,  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

force  of  intercession  can  so  lift  the  soul  Godwards,  there  is  here 
at  our  disposal,  did  we  but  use  and  develop  it,  a  force  where- 
with to  uplift  the  unprepared  individual,  or  community,  or 
nation  into  a  condition  of  receptivity,  until  haply  the  subjects 
of  our  prayers  begin  to  pray  for  themselves,  and  establish  their 
own  direct  contact  with  God. 

Whether  a  full  and  complete  philosophy  of  prayer  (could 
we  but  gain  it)  would  lead  to  any  widespread  practice  of  the 
art  and  craft  thereof,  may  be  open  to  question.  More  may  be 
learnt  by  personal  experiment  —  in  the  widest  sense  of  the 
word  —  than  from  any  elaborated  theorising.  But,  given  a 
sufficient  number  of  unmistakable  experiences  and  authentic 
testimonies,  the  mind  naturally  sets  itself  in  some  measure  to 
try  and  account  for  their  modus  operandi.  And  "  it  is  no  law- 
ful impediment  to  the  human  mind  to  be  told  that  things  are 
inaccessible.  It  naturally  turns  to  the  inaccessible.  It  knows 
that  what  is  inaccessible  to-day  becomes  accessible  to-mor- 
row." '^  So  with  all  due  diffidence  the  writer  would  jot  down 
some  of  the  ideas  which  have  served  himself  as  working 
theories. 

( 1 )  God's  own  gracious  desires  to  bless  us  and  others  are 
evidently  the  source  of  our  prayerful  desires  for  blessings, 
either  for  ourselves  or  for  others.  God  Himself  is  the  in- 
spirer  of  all  true  prayer.  In  electrical  phraseology,  our  prayers 
for  blessing  are  induced  by  the  Divine  yearning  to  bless. 

(2)  Certain  great  blessings,  coming  from  a  Divine  Heart 
of  Fire,  may  only  be  receivable  by  a  soul  full  of  burning  zeal 
to  obtain  them.  In  lighting  a  literal  fire  the  flame  has  to  raise 
a  portion  of  the  fuel  to  its  own  temperature  before  it  can  cause 
ignition  and  communicate  itself. 

(3)  When  our  God,  in  His  yearning  to  bless  the  world, 
exhorts  us  through  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  to  pray  to  Him  for 
His  Realm  on  earth  with  an  amount  of  soul-energy  sufficient 
to  overcome  a  stubborn  human  reluctance  (and  the  parable  in 
St.  Luke  which  follows  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  surely  to  be  read 
in  connection  with  the  great  petitions  of  that  prayer),  He  must 
Himself  have  some  definite  use  for  that  output  of  soul-energy. 
An  old  Chinese  philosopher  (Yang  Hsiung,  contemporary  with 
Jesus),  who  said,  "God  without  man  is  not  straitened;  man 
without  God  can  carry  nothing  through,"  was  hardly  so  true 
to  fact  in  the  former  part  of  his  aphorism  as  he  was  in  the 
latter  half.     In  some  way  or  other  God  found  His  opportunity 

7  William  Arthur,  Fernley^  ^fcfure,  1883,  p,  §1, 


THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY  273 

in  the  fervent  prayers  of  psalmist  and  prophet  —  an  oppor- 
tunity of  blessing  which  He  would  not  otherwise  have  had. 
In  some  way  or  other  God  worked  through  the  fervent  prayers 
of  Jesus  and  the  apostles;  He  wrought  as  He  could  not  have 
done  had  not  that  prayer-energy  been  at  His  disposal. 

Concerning  the  fact,  if  not  the  precise  nature,  of  the  aid 
which  all  Divinely-induced  prayer-energy  may  render  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  God's  beneficent  designs  for  individuals 
and  communities,  w^e  may  gain  a  helpful  train  of  thought  if 
we  take  the  general  subject  of  incarnation  as  our  starting- 
point. 

In  the  person  of  Jesus,  as  St.  John  tells  us,  the  eternal  Word 
of  God  was  "  made  flesh,"  or,  as  we  should  say,  "  embodied," 
—  meaning  that  the  eternal  Word  of  God  was  expressed  in  the 
attributes  of  a  human  personality.  In  this  statement  we  have 
a  great  item  of  the  Christian  belief  and  also  a  fact  wdiich  is 
suggestive  of  much. 

(a)  Jesus  was  the  human  Expression  of  God,  revealing  Him 
to  men's  consciousness  in  a  manner  which  was  alike  necessary 
and  suitable  for  human  apprehension. 

(b)  All  thought  and  desire  needs  to  gain  some  expression 
or  embodiment  (as  in  a  glance  or  gesture,  a  word  or  deed,  or 
perchance  some  psychical  impulse),  if  it  is  to  influence  our 
fellows.  For,  apart  from  such  expression  or  embodiment, 
they  may  remain  unconscious  of  it. 

(c)  God  has  a  Gospel  of  Love  for  all  men  everywhere, 
which  He  most  ardently  yearns  to  bring  home  to  their  hearts. 
But  He  does  not  thunder  that  message  of  grace  from  the  skies 
(translating  it  into  articulate  vibrations  of  lifeless  atmos- 
phere) :  He  has  made  Himself  dependent  upon  ardent  human 
personalities  as  His  vehicle  of  translation  for  humanity  at 
large. 

{d)  The  specific  force  which  captures  the  heart  of  the 
listener  for  preaching  or  earnest  Christian  counsel  is  not  alone 
the  cogency  of  the  message  itself  but  a  personal  influence  of 
the  soul  which  is  transmitting  that  message  —  a  soul  in  living 
touch  with  the  Lord  through  prayer,  and  in  living  touch  with 
the  soul  of  the  listener  through  prayerful  sympathy. 
It  is  the  preacher's  soul  that  is  most  of  all  God's  intermediary 
for  producing  dynamic  results  in  the  hearer's  nature.  The 
actual  message  may  be  embodied  in  the  voice  of  the  preacher, 
but  the  Divine  force  of  suasion  which  produced  the  dynamic 
changes  involved  in  conversion  to  God  is  (if  we  may  use  the 


274  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

word)  en-souled  in  the  preacher  himself  and  thus  appeals  to 
the  fellow-soul  of  the  listener.  The  omnipresent  Spirit  of 
God  was  there  around  both  the  preacher  and  listener  before 
they  became  such.  But  the  latter  was  then  devoid  of  the 
means,  in  his  unpreparedness,  for  receiving  the  impulses  of 
the  Spirit  directly;  He  now  receives  them  through  a  kindred 
medium.  It  is  through  that  medium  (in  a  condition  of  con- 
tact with  God,  and  with  the  soul  to  be  blessed)  that  the  Divine 
force  of  conversion  attains  its  object. 

(e)  Now,  if  in  preaching  or  earnest  conversation  on  things 
Divine,  it  is  the  soul  that  counts  most,  as  God's  especial  medium 
of  communication,  we  may  conceive  that,  were  the  voice  and 
bodily  presence  eliminated  from  the  case,  that  same  prayerful 
soul  might  still  become  God's  means  of  access  to  the  soul  of 
the  same  man.  Geographical  distance,  it  has  been  found,  is  in 
no  wise  a  barrier  to  what  we  may  call  the  projection  of  prayer- 
force,  the  energy  of  souls  suffused  with  Divine  yearning.  And 
though  we  associate  a  human  soul  with  the  body  which  it  in- 
habits, we  may  concede  to  the  forces  of  its  intenser  moments 
some  subtle  powers  of  projection  corresponding  to  the  pro- 
jection to  a  distance  of  the  vibrations  of  wireless  telegraphy. 

Thus,  as  the  Greeks  of  old,  tempted  to  sea  by  the  clustering 
islands  around  their  serrated  coast,  essayed  to  cross  the  wider 
waters  and  visit  great  lands,  so  our  soul-forces,  trained  in 
habitual  intercession  for  those  who  claim  our  nearer  sympa- 
thies, may  learn  to  traverse  wider  space,  and  include  greater 
regions  within  our  sphere  of  influence.  First,  our  families, 
our  friends,  and  our  Church,  then  our  neighbours,  our  nation 
in  all  its  concerns,  and  the  various  nations  of  the  world  (all  of 
them  as  needy,  spiritually,  as  those  whose  needs  have  been  writ 
large  in  blood)  may  naturally  become  to  us  real  objects  of  inter- 
cession, an  intercession  of  hopeful  assurance  as  well  as  of 
faith. 

Apart  from  the  distinctively  religious  value  of  prayer  to 
God,  instances  might  be  multiplied  of  a  distinct  and  dynamic 
stirring  of  mind  in  some  one  or  other  (who  may  be  quite  un- 
known to  the  offerer  of  prayer)  taking  place  at  the  time  that 
the  prayer  reached  its  maximum  intensity.  One  instance  of 
this  may  be  quoted  in  sketchy  outline,  where  those  concerned 
could  add  many  details  of  more  than  ordinary  interest. 

On  a  certain  date,  some  years  ago,  in  a  city  of  China,  the 
writer  had  spent  the  whole  day  in  translating  various  portions 


THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY  275 

of  an  English  book  of  scholarly  research.  It  was  the  sultry 
midsummer,  and  he  would  normally  have  used  up  his  strength 
and  felt  flat  and  dull  at  the  end  of  so  many  hours  of  work. 
But,  in  the  evening,  at  a  time  corresponding  to  noon  in  Eng- 
land, he  felt  an  irresistible  impulse  to  write  a  cheery  letter  of 
thanks  to  the  author  of  the  book,  pointing  out  in  what  way 
its  thoughts  would  be  useful  to  China.  Time  was  forgotten, 
and  the  letter  filled  several  sheets.  As  no  author's  name  was 
on  the  title-page,  this  letter  was  enclosed  to  the  publisher  to 
forward.  Then  the  matter  was  forgotten  until  an  unexpected 
reply  was  received  in  the  autumn.  That  author  proved  to  be 
a  lady  of  one  of  the  higher  families  of  Britain,  an  invalid  who, 
on  the  day  the  letter  was  written  in  China,  was  oppressed  with 
a  great  anguish,  and  was  offering  strong  supplications  at  noon. 
A  danger  which  threatened  that  day  was  postponed,  and 
eventually  quite  averted.  Thus  her  prayers  seemed  to  have 
local  efficacy.  And  the  letter  written  from  China  became  an 
essential  link  in  a  long  chain  of  providences  which  restored  the 
lady  to  health,  and  found  for  her  an  altogether  new  and  wide 
sphere  in  life. 

On  the  subject  of  prayer  as  an  aid  to  the  medical  art  most 
doctors  of  any  devoutness  might  say  a  great  deal.  An  in- 
stance comes  to  me  from  the  days  of  boyhood,  in  which  the 
details  are  as  vivid  as  any  of  last  year.  A  godly  mother  of 
twelve  children  was  smitten  with  a  severe  stroke  of  paralysis, 
with  complications  added  thereto.  The  doctor  feared  the 
worst  and  told  the  family  so  one  afternoon.  He  did  not  ex- 
pect her  to  last  till  next  day.  But  in  the  early  evening  there 
happened  to  be  a  large  prayer-meeting  in  which  the  faithful 
of  several  Churches  united.  The  leader  of  the  meeting  was  a 
man  of  God  who  had  learnt  to  pray  on  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa.  He  read  the  parable  of  the  Importunate  Widow,  and 
after  the  7th  verse  ^  remarked :  "  I  am  not  aware  that  God's 
elect  are  now  in  the  habit  of  crying  unto  Him  day  and  night. 
When  they  do  so,  something  great  w^ill  take  place."  Then, 
after  several  earnest  prayers  had  been  offered  for  the  uplift  of 
all  the  Churches,  the  leader  said :  "  A  saint  of  God,  known  to 
you  all,  lies  at  the  point  of  death.  Her  family  cannot  spare 
her,  and  we  cannot  spare  her.  Let  us  ask  the  Lord  to  restore 
her."  And,  amid  deep  feeling,  that  prayer  was  offered.  I 
returned,  over-awed,  to  our  house  ( for  they  had  prayed  for  my 

8  Luke  xviii. 


276  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

own  mother),  and  found  the  doctor  there  in  the  dining-room, 
leaning  against  the  mantelpiece,  saying:  "  I  cannot  account  for 
it!  Something  has  happened  to  her.  There  is  a  wonderful 
change.  You  may  expect  her  to  be  up  and  about  in  a  few 
days  now."  And  it  was  so.  Her  life  was  prolonged  until  her 
work  was  done. 

Now,  supposing  that  doctor's  forebodings  were  fully  war- 
ranted, it  may  be  asked :  *'  What  really  happened,  through 
prayer,  to  restore  his  patient?"  Apparently  an  inflow  of 
life- force. 

We  must  remember  that  medicines  are  not  in  themselves 
strictly  curative.  Their  aim,  broadly  speaking,  is  to  arouse 
and  set  free  the  life- force  by  which  the  body  heals  itself.  A 
cut  finger  becomes  self-healing  when  the  tissues  are  cleansed 
and  kept  clean.  And  the  office  of  medicine  is  largely  to 
cleanse  the  body  of  septic  pollution,  or  other  hindrances  to  the 
free  play  of  its  own  life-forces. 

From  Jesus  the  Healer  there  went  forth  "virtue"  (8wa/Ais, 
dynamic  energy)  into  the  sick  man,  when  the  latter  was  in  a 
condition  of  ardent,  trustful  receptivity.  His  method  of  heal- 
ing, so  far  as  we  may  analyse  it,  was  to  give  out  from  His 
own  person  a  stream  of  living  energy  which  invigorated  what 
life- force  the  sick  folk  possessed;  thus  raising  their  self-healing 
faculties  from  the  dormant  or  moribund  state  to  that  of  ef- 
fective activity.  Christian  prayer  is  in  practice  an  output  of 
living  energy,  Divine  and  human.  And  in  our  modern  prayers 
for  the  sick,  this  output  may  only  differ  in  degree  (and  not  in 
kind)  from  that  which  Jesus  dispensed  to  the  needy  of  old. 

Yet  when  we  pray  for  our  sick  friends,  we  do  well  to  re- 
member that  the  remedial  properties  of  medicine,  no  less  than 
the  nourishing  properties  of  food,  are  a  manifest  provision  of 
God.  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof,"  aye, 
and  the  universe,  together  with  all  its  forces  material  and 
spiritual.  And  the  calling-in  of  spiritual  aid  for  sick  bodies  is 
surely  most  warranted  when  the  material  gifts  of  God,  which 
we  call  food  and  medicine,  are  both  alike  valued  and  used. 

"  Is  not  the  material  universe  everywhere  shot  through  with 
laws  which  science  has  shown  to  be  constant  and  invariable?  " 
it  is  often  urged.  But  here  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  in  the 
choice  of  the  word  "  law  "  for  that  which  is  connoted  by  the 
word  in  this  connection,  our  Western  science  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  shone  conspicuously.  On  the  face  of  it,  there 
is  the  obvious  defect  that,  in  our  own  language,  the  word  may 


THE  FAITH  OF  A  MISSIONARY  277 

need  an  elaborate  commentary  to  make  it  clear,'"'  and  into  some 
of  the  great  languages  of  the  earth  it  cannot  be  translated  at 
all!  The  translator  of  scientific  books  into  the  greater  lan- 
guages of  Asia  has,  perforce,  to  choose  a  quite  different  term 
from  that  of  "  law."  For  in  those  languages  "  law  "  always 
means  (what  it  properly  means  in  English)  a  rule  of  the 
realm  or  comnnniity,  backed  by  authority,  and  based  on  con- 
siderations that  are  either  distinctly  ethical  or  else  socially  ex- 
pedient. Thus,  a  term  meaning  ratiotmle  or  principle  of  action 
or  else  one  meaning  customary  procedure  is  always  chosen 
instead. 

Cleared  of  all  ideas  of  authoritative  command,  a  "  law  of 
Nature  "  comes  to  mean,  in  its  last  analysis,  an  invariable  re- 
sult from  a  specific  interplay  of  forces.  And  as  a  corollary  to 
this  it  has  been  proven  that  whenever  the  output  of  force  is 
modified  or  re-directed,  the  results  will  also  be  modified.  Re- 
direction or  rearrangement  of  force  often  produces  phenomena 
which  differ  in  kind,  as  well  as  degree,  from  those  which  for- 
merly prevailed.  A  patent  fact,  this,  exemplified  in  many  a 
chemical  reaction  of  the  laboratory  and  in  the  chemical  re- 
actions within  our  bodies,  by  which  our  daily  food  becomes 
indeed  the  food-stuff  of  life.  Moreover,  any  output  of  living 
energy  from  our  bodies  that  are  thus  maintained  becomes  at 
once  a  new^  factor  for  the  local  rearrangement  of  natural  force. 
As  living  beings,  we  are  continually  modifying  the  arrange- 
ment of  some  of  the  forces  of  Nature  immediately  around  us, 
and  that,  with  no  "  breaking  "  or  "  suspension  "  of  any  fixed 
"  law  ''  whatever. 

Yet,  if  we  are  justified  in  banishing  the  bogey  of  "  law  " 
from  this  discussion,  it  still  remains  a  fact  that  our  own 
output  of  living  energy,  in  order  to  become  a  factor  for  modify- 
ing physical  phenomena,  must,  in  ordinary  matters,  be  first 
translated  into  physical  energy.  And  the  question  arises :  Can 
the  forces  of  prayer,  which  are  of  a  spiritual  (or  perhaps 
psycho-spiritual)  nature,  be  brought  to  play,  in  any  dynamic 
fashion,  upon  the  physical  forces  of  the  universe?  We  smile 
at  the  Chinese  Taoist  exorcist  who  uses  a  material  sword  of 
iron,  or  a  written  scrawl  on  paper,  to  dispel  unwelcome  ghosts. 
And.  where  "  the  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal," 
how  are  they  likely  to  modify  any  phenomena  in  the  phvsical 
universe? 

9  As    in    W^m.    Arthur's    On    the    Difference    between    Physical    and    Moral    Law,    a 
philosophical   treatise   of   24*^   pages. 


278  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

In  our  own  make-up  we  have  a  marvellous  instance  of  soul 
impinging  on  intellect,  and  intellect  impinging  on  nerve-cell, 
and  nerve-cell  on  muscle  and  bone,  to  such  an  extent  that  a 
currency  of  impulse  from  soul  to  the  material  frame  is  anything 
but  impossible  or  unusual.  And  unless  the  earth  and  its  forces 
have  ceased  to  be  the  Lord's,  in  any  vital  sense  of  the  term,  we 
may  well  believe  that  the  great  mystic  Nature-force  vibrating 
in  every  material  atom  belongs  most  intimately  to  the  Creator 
and  Upholder  of  all  things.  And  further  that,  in  some  way 
that  we  cannot  pretend  to  explain,  the  new  factor  of  prayer- 
energy,  introduced  into  a  given  region  of  His  universe,  may 
become,  whenever  the  Most  High  may  so  desire,  a  truly 
dynamic  factor  within  that  region. 

In  general,  however,  our  moral  and  spiritual  faculties  of 
"  worshipping  approach  "  (-Trpoacyxv)  to  our  God,  of  "  heart's 
converse"  (eVrcD^i?)  with  God,  together  with  definite  petition 
(StTjcris)  to  God,  are  given  to  us  primarily  for  use  in  moral  and 
spiritual  spheres  for  moral  and  spiritual  purposes.  And  it  is 
ours  to  gain  for  ourselves  a  connected  series  of  experiences, 
which  will  stand  us  in  the  stead  of  verified  experiments,  and 
give  us  a  well-grounded  assurance  of  the  value  of  prayer  — 
not  always  indeed  to  be  tabulated  in  so  many  words,  but  often 
transcending  all  words,  in  the  simple  imperishable  marvel  of  it 
all  —  of  putting  forth  a  new  force  of  (higher)  Nature,  as 
workers  together  with  God.  And  toward  this  exercise  the 
final  work  of  Science  is  one  of  undoubted  encouragement.  No 
axiom  is  surer  than  that,  on  the  one  hand,  every  effect  must 
have  an  adequate  cause,  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  every  out- 
put of  force  produces  some  real  result. 

In  true  prayer  we  have  an  output  of  human  soul-force, 
Divinely  induced,  and  then  Divinely  suffused  and  augmented, 
whose  ultimate  goal  is  the  glory  of  God.  To  borrow  a  term 
from  electrical  science,  the  "  circuit  "  is  now  completed  and 
"  closed."  And  all  along  its  course,  that  current  of  sacred 
energy  acquires  a  working  potency  by  which  it  never  returns 
to  its  primal  Source  void  of  dynamic  result. 


XII 

PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  SPIRITUAL 
LAW  AND  ABSOLUTE  REALITY 


BY 

CHARLES  HERMAN  LEA,  Northwood 

AUTHOR    OF 
'  A    PLEA    FOR    THE    THOROUGH    AND    UNBIASED    INVESTIGATION    OF    CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  ' 


XII 

PRAYER  IN  RELATION  TO  SPIRITUAL 
LAW  AND  ABSOLUTE  REALITY 

Prayer,  the  essence  of  all  true  religion,  is  the  soul's  sincere 
desire  to  recognise  God's  power  and  presence;  in  other  words, 
prayer  is  the  opening  of  the  mind  to  God  and  the  recognition 
and  realisation  of  God  as  Divine  Love.  Consequently,  to 
every  sincere  and  devout  Christian,  this  is  a  very  sacred  sub- 
ject. But  the  word  prayer  is  often  used  with  so  little  thought 
that  its  true  meaning  is  frequently  lost  sight  of.  Thus,  in 
popular  religious  usage,  prayer  unquestionably  means  "  suppli- 
cation, or  the  act  of  beseeching  or  entreating  a  favour  from 
God,"  a  usage  which  indicates  a  conception  of  God  far  re- 
moved from  the  teaching  of  the  Founder  of  the  Christian 
Faith,  to  Whom  prayer  meant  spiritual  communion  with  God, 
adoration,  praise,  and  thanksgiving.  Consequently,  when  used 
in  its  conventional  popular  sense,  the  word  has  a  very  different 
significance  from  that  which  it  bears  in  its  highest  religious 
sense,  which  indicates  the  realisation  of  the  omnipotence,  om- 
niscience, and  omnipresence  of  God. 

Now,  all  devout  Christians  use  the  word  "  prayer  "  in  its 
highest  religious  sense,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  all  religious 
bodies  also  use  it  more  or  less  in  its  conventional  religious 
sense.  Yet  the  two  uses  of  the  word  stand  for  two  quite  dis- 
tinct and  disparate  conceptions  of  God  —  the  one  (as  all  Chris- 
tians will  agree)  a  true  conception,  and  the  other  (as  all  will 
equally  agree)  a  mistaken  conception.  It  is  very  important, 
therefore,  to  recognise  and  differentiate  these  two  conceptions 
and  what  they  involve. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  let  us  consider  the  conception  of  God 
implied  in  the  words  "  supplication,  or  the  act  of  beseeching  or 
entreating  a  favour  from  God."  Clearly,  these  words  imply 
that  the  suppliant's  conception  of  God  is  that  of  a  Being  Who, 
while  independent  of  this  material  world,  is  nevertheless  fully 
cognisant  of  all  that  happens  here  and  has  power  to  deal  ade- 
quately with  requests  made  to  Him.     No  doubt  this  represents 

281 


282  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  ancient  monotheistic  conception  of  God  as  a  Being  Who 
both  loved  and  hated,  and  in  later  Christian  times  the  trans- 
formed conception  of  a  God  of  love  and  perfect  wisdom,  Whose 
love  would  lead  Him  to  grant  the  favour  asked,  but  Whose 
wisdom  may  show  Him  it  is  not  for  the  suppliant's  good  that 
the  request  should  be  granted. 

Such  a  conception  of  God,  however,  as  the  foregoing  im- 
plies, is  surely  an  indication  of  how  crudely  and  inconsistently 
many  people  are  satisfied  to  think  about  the  nature  of  God,  and 
shows  that  they  have  not  yet  thrown  off  their  mental  swaddling- 
clothes.  In  fact,  it  is  the  childish,  materialistic  impression  of 
God,  thought  of  as  a  greatly  magnified  earthly  father,  who 
lives  in  a  region  above  the  clouds,  called  heaven,  from  which 
He  looks  down  upon  the  world  He  has  made.  Yet  this  is  the 
conception  of  God  that  is  held  (almost  unconsciously,  no  doubt) 
by  a  great  many  people;  and  it  is  questionable  if  it  would  be 
doing  those  who  hold  no  higher  conception  of  God  than  this 
any  injustice  to  say  that  they  are  worshipping  a  God  of  their 
own  imagination,  a  God  Whom  they  have  made  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  man  quite  as  much  as  have  the  heathen  of 
Central  Africa,  when  they  worship  the  fetishes  and  other  still 
cruder  conceptions.  The  belief  that  such  a  God  can,  and  does, 
consider  every  petition  made  to  Him,  does  not  appear  to  them 
unreasonable,  simply  because  they  have  reflected  so  little  and 
so  insufficiently  on  this  all-important  subject. 

In  order  to  see  how  absolutely  impossible  it  is  that  such  a 
conception  should  have  any  real  correspondence  with  the  true 
conception  of  God,  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider  what  this 
mistaken  conception  involves  when  thought  of  in  relation  to  an 
individual's  prayer.  For  instance,  it  involves  the  idea  that  God 
is  a  Being  Who  is  constantly  listening,  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  to  the  conflicting  requests  of  hundreds  of  millions  of 
people,  considering  each  request  individually,  and  granting  or 
refusing  it  as  He,  in  His  wisdom,  sees  best  —  without,  be  it 
noted,  necessarily  giving  any  indication  of  an  answer,  unless  it 
is  for  the  best  that  the  request  should  be  granted.  Obviously 
the  idea  that  God  is  such  a  Being  occupied  in  such  a  way  is 
absolutely  irrational,  and  once  formulated  should  be  immedi- 
ately repudiated  by  all  thoughtful  Christians.  Yet  who  will 
deny  that  this  conception  of  God  is  largely  conveyed  by  the 
prayers  and  sermons  from  nearly  every  pulpit  in  the  Christian 
world  to-day,  and  has  been  for  generations  ?  In  fact,  the  pop- 
ular religious  meaning  of  prayer  shows  clearly  that  some  such 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  283 

conception  of  God  as  the  above  is  held  more  or  less  by  not 
only  the  non-professing,  unthinking  masses  of  every  Christian 
country,  but  also  by  a  great  many  professing  Christians.  And 
further  still,  we  must  acknowledge,  if  we  face  the  matter  fairly, 
that  prayer  as  commonly  understood  has  little  if  any  meaning 
unless  God  is  such  a  Being  as  this  obviously  mistaken  concep- 
tion of  Him  represents. 

Another  aspect  of  this  conception  of  God  also  calls  for  con- 
sideration, namely :  the  reasons  put  forward  by  some  Christian 
teachers  why  sincere  prayers  so  often  remain  "  unanswered." 
One  reason  has  already  been  indicated,  namely,  that  God  in  His 
wisdom  sees  best  not  to  grant  the  petition.  This  may  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  satisfactory  explanation,  but  there  is  probably  no 
evidence  that  it  is  the  correct  one.  In  fact,  the  faith  required 
to  accept  it  may  be  practically  unattainable,  as,  for  instance,  in 
the  case  of  a  parent's  prayer  for  a  suffering  child  for  whom 
there  is  apparently  no  human  hope  or  relief.  Again,  a  second 
reason  given  is  "  lack  of  faith  "  on  the  part  of  the  suppliant, 
and  various  texts  of  Scripture  are  usually  quoted  to  show  that, 
if  only  we  had  sufficient  faith,  mountains  might  be  removed. 
But  this  second  reason  is  not  in  accord  with  the  first,  and  if 
applied  in  a  case  such  as  that  instanced  above,  it  would  follow 
that  God  must  be  a  Being  Who  would  allow  a  child  to  continue 
to  endure  terrible  suffering  simply  because  the  mother  has  not 
sufficient  faith  to  believe  either  that  He  can  or  will  grant  her 
petition.  Merely  to  present  such  a  conception  of  God  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  it  is  irrational,  self -contradictory,  and 
therefore  false.  Hence,  reasons  such  as  these  must  be  simply 
an  indication  that  Christian  teachers  who  hold  such  views  can- 
not adequately  and  satisfactorily  explain  "  unanswered " 
prayer.  Indeed,  the  more  we  think  about  God  as  a  Being  Who 
hears  and  answers  prayer,  as  understood  in  the  conventional 
sense  of  "  supplication,"  the  more  obvious  it  becomes  that  we 
are  on  the  horns  of  a  dilemma  from  which  there  is  absolutely 
no  escape,  so  far  as  the  generally  accepted  Christian  teaching 
outlined  above  is  concerned.  Happily,  however,  there  is  a  real 
explanation  and  this  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact 
that,  underlying  these  crude  ideas  about  God,  there  are  deep 
spiritual  truths  which  have  been  distorted  and  hidden  by  the 
gross  materialism  of  the  ages.  These  truths  are  perceived 
when  the  true  conception  of  God  indicated  by  the  higher  mean- 
ing of  prayer  is  considered.  Here  it  is  sufficient  to  note  that, 
although  the  historical  facts  regarding  the  Bible  make  it  some- 


284  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

times  somewhat  difficult  to  be  certain  as  to  the  exact  teaching 
of  Jesus  Christ  on  this  point,  there  is  but  Httle  doubt  He  did 
teach  that,  in  a  sense,  God  is  a  prayer-hearing  and  prayer- 
answering  God,  that  He  answers  prayer  only  if  it  is  best  that 
the  prayer  should  be  answered,  and  that  answer  to  prayer  de- 
pends in  some  measure  on  the  faith  of  the  person  who  prays. 
The  teaching  of  Jesus,  however,  regarding  these  great  truths 
must  obviously  have  been  in  accord  with  His  general  teaching 
as  to  the  nature  of  God.  Therefore,  we  must  now  state  the 
conception  of  God  for  which  the  higher  and  only  true  meaning 
of  the  word  "  prayer  "  stands. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  to  find  words  that  will  convey  an 
adequate  conception  of  the  true  God  and  of  His  omnipotence, 
omniscience,  and  omnipresence,  but  the  conception  for  which 
true  prayer  stands  may,  perhaps,  be  best  summed  up  in  the 
words:  "God  is  omnipotent,  omniscient,  and  omnipresent, 
the  one,  all-inclusive,  perfect,  infinite,  and  eternal  Mind  or  in- 
telligence of  the  universe,"  "  in  Whom  we  live,  and  move,  and 
have  our  being."  But  this  naturally  leads  to  the  question: 
"  What  is  our  true  relationship  to  God?  "  for  prayer  can  have 
little  meaning  for  us  unless,  besides  some  kind  of  a  true  concep- 
tion of  God,  we  also  hold  a  true  conception  of  our  real  relation 
to  Him.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  find,  in  either  ancient  or 
modern  Christian  literature,  an  intelligible  and  well-defined 
statement  of  that  relationship,  but  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that 
all  Christians  accept  St.  Paul's  statement  that  in  God  "  we  live, 
and  move,  and  have  our  being  "  ;  and  this  closely  coincides  with 
the  teaching  held  by  many  Christians  to-day,  that  the  real  man, 
including  all  real  life,  is  a  manifestation  or  expression  of  God, 
and  hence  that  there  can  be  no  real  life  apart  from  Him.  The 
question,  therefore,  naturally  arises:  "If  the  foregoing  con- 
ception of  God  is  even  approximately  correct,  so  that  '  in  Him 
we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,'  how  can  we  ever  be 
really  separated  from  God  ?  "  The  answer  plainly  is,  that  our 
true  selves  never  are,  and  never  can  be,  really  separated  from 
God,  because  God  and  His  manifestations  are  obviously  in- 
separable. The  apparent  separation  must,  therefore,  be  due 
to  a  false  human  consciousness  or  prevailing  sense  of  sin,  and 
as  we  have  no  consciousness  of  life  apart  from  the  action  of 
thought,  this  sense  of  separation  from  God  must  be  the  result 
of  wrong  thought.  Consequently,  this  false  sense  of  separa- 
tion is  destroyed  and  our  true  state  of  conscious  harmony  with 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  285 

God  is  revealed  by  right  thinking — in  other  words,  by  true 
prayer,  which  is  the  opening  of  the  mind  to  God,  and  the  recog- 
nition and  reahsation  of  the  truth  and  unity  of  God  and  His 
manifestation. 

Hence,  if,  along  with  the  true  meaning  of  prayer,  this  true 
conception  of  God  and  of  our  real  relationship  to  Him  is  con- 
sidered, it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  both  natural  and  reasonable  to 
expect  the  desired  result  from  prayer,  since  it  is  no  longer  a 
question  of  asking  God  to  alter  supposed  material  conditions, 
but  a  question  of  man's  really  coming  into  harmony  with  God 
in  His  infinitude.  Thus  true  prayer  is  answered  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  false,  material  sense  of  life,  and  the  answer  we 
obtain  to  our  prayer  is  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  extent  that 
we  realise  the  true  sense  of  life,  because  to  just  that  extent  do 
we  destroy  the  false  sense  of  life  both  for  ourselves  and  others. 
This  also  explains  the  great  spiritual  truths  underlying  the 
teaching  already  referred  to,  viz.  that  God  is  a  prayer-hearing 
and  prayer-answering  God,  that  He  answers  prayer  only  in  so 
far  as  it  is  best  that  it  should  be  answered,  and  that  answer  to 
prayer  depends  on  the  faith  of  the  person  who  prays.  For  as 
we  live  in  God,  we  live  in  good  —  abundant  and  infinite  good. 
Therefore  all  good  and  nothing  but  good  opens  to  man  in  pro- 
portion as  he  turns  in  thought  to  God,  so  that  according  to  his 
recognition  and  realisation  of  God,  or  good,  is  his  prayer  an- 
swered. It  should  of  course  be  recognized  that  the  law  of  God 
is  the  law  of  good,  and  equally  the  law  of  love.  Consequently, 
as  the  nature  of  God  admittedly  represents  an  ever-operative 
principle  of  good,  true  prayer  must  needs  be  answered  just  in  so 
far  as  it  is  in  accord  with  man's  highest  good. 

And  now,  before  passing  on  to  consider  the  reality  and 
power  of  prayer,  I  venture  to  submit  that  ( i )  the  popular, 
conventional  meaning  of  the  word  "  prayer  "  stands  for  a  false 
conception  of  God,  and  represents  a  more  or  less  superstitious 
belief  in  God  in  contradistinction  to  the  recognition  of  the 
reality  of  God  as  the  one  foundation  fact  of  life.  (2)  All 
Christian  Churches  are  essentially  in  agreement  as  to  the  true 
conception  of  God,  and  therefore  as  to  the  true  meaning  of 
praver.  although  they  may  still  more  or  less  cling  to  the  popular 
conception.  (3)  The  function  of  prayer  is  not  to  induce  God 
to  alter  the  condition  in  which  a  man  may  believe  himself  to 
be,  but  it  is  to  bring  man  into  harmony  with  God,  and  thus 
destroy  all  false  beliefs. 


286  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


The  Reality  and  Power  of  Prayer 

When  we  pass  from  the  consideration  of  the  meaning  to 
that  of  the  reahty  and  power  of  prayer,  we  pass  from  the 
theoretical  to  the  practical.  It  is  true  that  doubt  as  to  the 
reality  of  prayer  may  be  raised  on  the  assumption  that  prayer 
is,  after  all,  simply  the  helpless  cry  of  the  finite  to  the  unknown 
Infinite,  and  that  God's  supposed  answers  to  prayer  are  mere 
illusions ;  but  this  would  mean  not  only  the  denial  in  toto  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Founder  of  the  Christian  faith  but  also  the 
denial  of  the  evidence  of  devout  Christians  in  all  ages.  Hap- 
pily, in  the  present  century  the  practical  results  obtained  by 
prayer  are  so  numerous  and  so  well  authenticated  that  no 
serious-minded  man  will  lightly  ignore  their  significance.  The 
fool  may  still  say  in  his  heart,  "  There  is  no  God,"  but  he  thus 
only  proves  himself  a  greater  fool. 

Whilst  considering  the  meaning  of  prayer,  we  assumed  the 
reality  of  both  God  and  prayer,  but  neither  of  these  rests  on 
mere  assumption,  since  we  have,  in  the  answer  to,  or  mbre  cor- 
rectly stated,  in  the  effect  of  prayer,  absolute  proof 
of  the  reality  of  God  and  of  prayer.  But  it  is  not  sufficient 
for  us  as  professing  Christians  merely  to  assert  that  prayer 
produces  practical  results;  we  must  also  be  prepared  to  show 
that  there  is  at  least  reasonable  probability  that  all  those  who 
honestly  investigate  the  subject  shall  obtain  like  results.  This 
I  venture  to  think  I  have  done  if  I  have  correctly  interpreted 
the  meaning  of  prayer,  as  a  little  thought  will  show  that  answer 
to  prayer  does  not  depend  merely  on  the  life  and  faith  of  the 
individual  but  that  it  also  represents  the  operation  of  spiritual 
law,  and  that,  if  it  is  possible  to  bring  that  law  into  operation 
on  one  occasion,  it  must  by  the  same  rule  be  possible  to  bring 
it  into  operation  again  and  again. 

Down  the  ages,  in  ringing  tones,  come  the  words  of  the 
still-rejected  Saviour  of  Mankind:  "Go  your  way  and  tell 
John  what  things  ye  have  seen  and  heard:  the  blind  see,  the 
lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised,  to  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached  "  (Luke  vii.  22).  I 
submit  that  these  so-called  "  miracles  "  could  not  have  been 
miracles  (as  commonly  understood)  to  Jesus  Christ,  but  were 
simply  and  solely  due  to  the  operation  of  spiritual  law.  of 
which  He  understood  the  underlying  principle.  In  other 
words.  His  knowledge  of  God  was  such  as  to  enable  Him  by 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  287 

prayer  to  cause  the  operation  of  spiritual  law  and  thus  produce 
the  desired  results.  Now,  if  it  was  possible  for  Jesus  Christ 
to  cause  the  operation  of  spiritual  law  by  means  of  prayer,  it 
follows  that,  in  some  measure,  it  must  also  be  possible  for  His 
followers  to  do  the  same,  and  in  support  of  this  position  we 
have  the  accepted  fact  that  He  so  taught  His  disciples  that  they 
Zi'cre  able  to  produce  similar  results.  Further,  the  command 
to  His  followers  of  all  time,  to  preach  the  gospel  and  to  heal 
the  sick,  is  definite  evidence  that,  if  His  teachings  had  been 
correctly  understood,  the  power  of  healing  by  spiritual  means 
or  true  prayer  would  have  been  continued  throughout  the  suc- 
ceeding ages,  and  that  therefore  it  is  still  operative  to-day. 

It  is  a  curious  and  most  remarkable  fact  that,  in  this 
twentieth  century,  when  the  immense  importance  of  exact 
knowledge  is  so  fully  recognised  in  every  department  of  life, 
no  serious  attempt  is  apparently  being  made  by  the  world's 
great  religious  thinkers  to  obtain  and  formulate  exact  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  of  the  operation  of  spiritual  law.  Can  any 
knowledge  be  of  like  value  to  that  which  proves  beyond  all 
question  or  doubt  the  reality  and  actuality  of  God  and  of 
prayer  ?  Again,  what  knowledge  can  be  comparable  with  that 
which  renders  it  possible  for  every  sincere  individual  —  man, 
woman,  and  child  —  so  to  pray  as  to  cause,  in  however  slight 
a  degree,  the  operation  of  a  spiritual  law  that  will  in  some 
manner  lessen  the  mist  of  error  in  which  mankind  vainly 
wanders  ?  Obviously  none,  for  it  means  that  ultimately  every 
ill  that  flesh  is  heir  to  may  be  for  ever  removed  by  prayer. 
That,  and  nothing  less,  is  the  power  of  prayer  revealed  to  us 
by  the  Saviour  of  Mankind,  and  provable  beyond  all  question 
as  an  actuality  by  every  honest  investigator  to-day. 

Its  Place  and  Value  to  the  Individual 

Consideration  of  the  reality  and  power  of  prayer  has  shown 
us  that  its  effect  is,  humanly  speaking,  to  lessen  the  mist  of 
error  through  which  mortals  are  struggling  towards  the  light 
and  thus  to  bring  the  individual  more  and  more  into  harmony 
with  God.  Prayer  should,  therefore,  have  the  first  place  in 
the  life  of  every  thoughtful  man,  seeing  that  it  is,  in  reality, 
the  only  true  key  to  success  in  every  department  of  life. 
Nevertheless,  many  sincere  and  devout  Christians  have  not 
even  yet  realised  that  Jesus  was  simply  stating  a  great  spiritual 
truth  in  His  Sermon  on  the  Mount  when,  after  enjoining  men 


288  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

to  "  seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  "  He  further  affirmed,  "  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  This,  however,  is 
unquestionably  the  case,  and  prayer  has  revealed  the  fact  that 
such  is  the  operation  of  spiritual  law  that  just  to  the  extent 
that  men  seek  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  the  measure  of  good 
that  comes  to  them.  Directly  men  realise  that  prayer  repre- 
sents the  operation  of  spiritual  law,  and  that  only  by  the  aid 
of  prayer  is  it  possible  for  them  to  seek  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  they  will  realise  its  inestimable  value  to  the  individual. 

Almost  unconsciously  the  great  spiritual  truths  which  Jesus 
taught  are  gradually  permeating  the  world  to-day.  It  is  com- 
paratively but  a  few  years  ago  that  the  opinion  was  pretty 
generally  held  that  business  men  could  not  be  successful  unless 
they  resorted  to  methods  that  were  more  or  less  questionable. 
Yet,  to-day,  probably  no  one  will  deny  the  fact  that  the  man 
who  desires  to  be  successful  in  business  cannot  do  better  than 
adopt  as  the  main  principles  of  his  conduct,  first,  that  he  will 
do  his  best  for  his  employees,  and  secondly  and  equally,  that 
he  will  do  his  best  for  his  customers.  H  these  are  his  guiding 
principles  not  less  will  those  of  truth  and  honesty  be  his,  and 
because  he  is  thus  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  good  for  all 
with  whom  he  has  to  do,  success  follows  his  effort  as  surely  as 
light  comes  with  the  sun.  Indeed,  before  another  generation 
has  passed,  men  will  realise  that  true  happiness  and  success  in 
life  are  alone  to  be  found  in  the  practical  application  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  that  prayer  is  the 
one  and  only  means  that  can  enable  the  individual  to  apply 
those  teachings  to  every  detail  of  life. 

It  is  not,  however,  of  business  success  that  we  want  to  think 
in  this  time  of  world-tragedy,  but  of  the  place  and  value  of 
prayer  to  the  men  and  women  who  are  so  nobly  giving  their  all 
for  the  world's  salvation.  What  then  is  the  value  of  prayer 
to  the  man  who  is  leaving  his  wife  and  children  in  order  to 
take  his  place  in  the  first  line  of  the  next  great  advance,  and  of 
what  value  is  it  to  the  wife  and  children,  or  to  the  dear  mother 
whose  only  son  is  there?  Is  prayer  powerless  to  protect  him 
from  the  diabolical  instruments  of  war,  or  may  he  go  forward 
with  confidence,  knowing  that  shot  and  shell  cannot  harm  him 
because  he  is  protected  by  the  power  of  prayer?  These  are 
questions  of  fact  which  need  to  be  honestly  faced  by  Christian 
men  to-dav.  They  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the  question  of 
the  actuality  of  the  power  of  prayer  and  of  whether  or  not 
answer  to  prayer  represents  the  operation  of  spiritual  law.     If 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  289 

the  answer  is  in  the  aOmnative,  it  must  be  possible  to  use  this 
power  in  every  circumstance  of  human  Hfe,  and  by  the  power 
of  prayer  for  a  man  to  be  absolutely  protected  from  shot  and 
shell.  Can  any  sincere  Christian  seriously  suggest  that  the 
power  of  (jod  is  not  infinitely  greater  than  the  power  of 
a  Prussian  shell,  or  rather  that  a  Prussian  shell  has 
any  power  in  the  presence  of  the  power  of  God?  As  a  busi- 
ness man,  accustomed  to  look  at  things  from  the  practical 
point  of  view,  and  judging  from  my  own  observation  of  the 
power  of  prayer  during  the  last  seven  or  eight  years  in  which 
1  have  given  some  time  and  thought  to  the  subject,  I  do  not  hes- 
itate to  believe,  although  I  have  had  no  experience  in  the  battle- 
field, that  this  power  is  sufficient  to  protect  from  shot  and  shell, 
and  that  the  man's  own  prayers  and  those  of  his  friends  will 
assist  to  this  end.  In  the  life  of  the  soldier  or  sailor,  there- 
fore, and  in  the  lives  of  those  near  and  dear  to  him,  prayer 
is  of  supreme  value  and  should  have  the  first  place. 

In  face  of  such  a  confidently  expressed  belief  as  this,  it  may 
well  be  asked  :  "  But  what  of  the  fallen,  who  have  prayed  and 
been  prayed  for?  "  Well  may  a  mother  who  so  deeply  mourns 
the  loss  of  a  dear  son,  ask  in  sorrow  and  almost  in  anger: 
"  Why  then  was  my  son  killed?"  And  even  with  scorn  she 
might  add,  "Did  I  ask  amiss?"  These  are  questions  that 
none  would  presume  to  answer,  but  may  we  not  with  absolute 
confidence  still  say  that  no  true  prayer  ever  remains  un- 
answered ?  Surely  this  is  to  every  Christian  a  fact  l^eyond  all 
doubt  or  question.  Spiritual  law  and  Divine  love  must  be  and 
are  unquestionably  inseparable,  and  because  God  is  Love,  and 
represents  an  ever-operative  Divine  principle,  the  answer  to  true 
prayer  must  follow  as  surely  as  day  follows  night.  Is  it  possi- 
ble that  the  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  although 
the  mother  thought  of  her  son's  being  preserved  from  death, 
nevertheless  so  vmselfish  and  true  was  her  love  that  she  really 
prayed  for  his  highest  good  and  that  her  prayer  was  in  reality 
answered?  What  we  individuals  have  always  to  remember 
is  that  only  the  highest  good  can  come  to  those  who  truly  pray 
or  are  truly  prayed  for.  True  prayer  can  obviously  have  only 
one  effect,  the  effect  of  good,  even  if  it  apparently  does  not 
bring  us  all  we  desire.  However,  be  the  explanation  of  the 
cases  of  seemingly  unanswered  prayer  in  this  war  what  it  may, 
I  venture  to  suggest  that  if  all  the  definite  cases  of  answered 
prayers  were  carefully  collected  and  published,  they  would  con- 
stitute the  most   astounding   revelation   the   world   has   ever 


290  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

known,  and  settle  for  ever  in  the  public  mind  the  place  and 
value  of  true  prayer  to  the  individual. 

Its  Place  and  Value  to  the  Church 

Prayer  is  individual,  and  its  relation  to  the  church  is  there- 
fore a  matter  depending  on  the  members  who  form  the  church. 
If  prayer  has  the  first  place  in  their  lives,  it  will  take  its  cor- 
responding place  in  the  corporate  life  of  the  church,  raising 
the  standard  of  its  life  to  the  highest  pitch  of  usefulness.  The 
value  of  prayer  to  the  church,  however,  is  the  power  it  gives 
to  the  individual  members  to  deal  with  all  that  belongs  to  its 
corporate  life.  Every  difficulty  that  arises  in  the  church  will 
naturally  be  taken  up  in  prayer  by  the  members  individually, 
and  whatever  these  difficulties  may  be,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  they  can  always  be  dealt  with  satisfactorily  by  means  of 
prayer.  All  the  aims  and  ideals  for  which  the  church  stands 
can  be  helped  in  this  way,  and  obviously  the  most  successful 
individual  church  must  be  the  one  in  which  the  members  rely 
upon  prayer  for  the  working  out  of  all  its  problems. 

But  although  all  sections  of  the  Christian  Church  give  the 
first  place  to  prayer  both  in  their  services  and  in  the  thought 
of  their  members,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  none  have  as  yet  fully 
recognised  what  a  marvellous  power  prayer  represents  —  a 
power  which,  for  nearly  nineteen  centuries,  has  been  lying 
more  or  less  dormant  in  their  midst.  In  the  material  world 
men  were  for  thousands  of  years  vaguely  conscious  of  the 
force  we  call  electricity,  but  they  little  dreamt  what  a  wonder- 
ful power  it  was  until  suddenly  they  awoke  to  the  fact  that  it 
worked  in  accord  with  comprehensible  laws ;  and  then  in  a  few 
years  it  revolutionised  almost  every  department  of  life.  In- 
finitely greater,  however,  is  the  power  which  even  to-day  awaits 
the  awakening  of  the  church  to  the  fact  that  prayer  also  works 
in  strict  accord  with  spiritual  law.  When  this  great  truth  is 
recognised,  the  church  will  take  its  rightful  place  in  the  world, 
for  it  will  have  discovered  the  power  that,  through  the 
faithful  work  of  its  members,  will  bring  in  the  millennium. 
If  any  Christian  doubts  this,  let  him  carefully  consider  what 
prayer  stands  for.  It  represents  the  vital  connection  between 
God  and  man,  prayer  and  its  answer  being  the  one  absolute 
proof  that  man  has  of  the  reality  of  God.  A  man  may  accept 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ ;  he  may  believe  all  that  the  Bible 
teaches  concerning  God;  but  until  he  has  learnt  to  pray  so  as 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  291 

to  obtain  definite  answers  to  his  prayers,  or  has  at  least  seen 
those  of  others  answered,  he  is  in  reahty  an  agnostic,  for  he 
can  only  believe  in  God  since  he  has  not  the  actual  knowledge 
that  God  is.  But  once  a  man  has  recognised  the  reality  of 
prayer,  and  has  proved  that  it  works  in  accord  with  spiritual 
law,  he  has  passed  from  belief  in,  to  actual  knowledge  of,  the 
reality  of  God.  He  then  perceives  that  prayer  is  a  power 
which  is  always  at  hand  and  that  it  can  be  used  for  every  right 
purpose  in  every  detail  of  life,  and  thus  his  faith  in  and  knowl- 
edge of  God  is  increased  day  by  day.  True,  prayer  is  individ- 
ual, but  consider  what  its  power  would  be  if  every  member  of 
the  Christian  Church  were  definitely  praying  to  one  end.  Is  it 
possible  to  conceive  that  there  is  any  power  that  could  stand 
against  such  prayer?  It  follows,  then,  that  when  the  power  of 
true  prayer  is  fully  recognised  throughout  the  Christian  Church 
the  world  will  be  transformed  and  every  kind  of  evil  will  be 
destroyed. 

Its  Place  and  Value  in  the  State 

The  relation  of  prayer  to  the  State  is  essentially  the  same 
as  its  relation  to  the  Church,  that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  matter  de- 
pending on  the  individuals  who  go  to  make  up  the  State;  and 
thus  the  place  and  value  of  prayer  in  the  State  is  purely  a 
question  of  the  attitude  of  its  individual  citizens  towards 
prayer.  The  value  of  prayer  to  the  State,  therefore,  will  cor- 
respond with  the  place  that  it  occupies  in  the  lives  of  the  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  State,  and  its  influence  and  power  will, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Church,  be  reflected  in  the  corporate  life 
of  the  State. 

The  citizens  of  a  State  who  recognise  the  power  of  prayer 
will  naturally  apply  it  to  State  questions  in  which  they  are 
interested,  and  probably  in  every  State  the  influence  of  prayer 
is  far  greater  than  is  generally  realised  even  by  its  professing 
Christian  citizens.  In  considering  this  aspect  of  the  subject,  we 
have  to  remember  that  God  is  the  source  and  basis  of  all  good : 
every  good  thought  and  every  good  deed  is  alike  a  manifesta- 
tion of  God.  In  fact,  when  we  get  down  to  rock-bottom,  God 
and  His  manifestation  must  be  the  only  absolute  reality. 
Hence  all  the  good  we  apprehend  is  the  manifestation  of  God, 
seen  as  yet  through  a  glass  darkly,  and  prayer  being  in  a  very 
real  sense  an  attitude  of  mind  towards  God,  not  only  helps 
each  one  of  us  but  enables  each  to  help  others  to  see  the  abso- 


292  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

lute  good  a  little  more  clearly.  Consequently  just  to  the  ex- 
tent to  which  Christian  men  and  women  apply  prayer  to  the 
problems  of  the  State  is  the  highest  good  brought  out  into 
manifestation  in  its  life  and  development. 

In  the  Everyday  Affairs  of  Life 

In  view  of  what  has  been  already  stated,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  say  what  should  be  the  place  of  prayer  in  the  everyday 
affairs  of  life  and  to  perceive  in  some  measure  what  would  be 
its  value  if  it  had  its  rightful  place  in  the  lives  of  those  of  us 
who  profess  to  be  Christians.  Jesus  Christ  Himself  gave  us 
the  answer  to  this  question  1900  years  ago  when  He  said: 
"  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you." 

The  fact  that  His  injunction  is  so  generally  regarded  as  an 
unattainable  ideal  by  the  vast  majority  of  even  earnest  Chris- 
tians indicates  only  too  clearly  how  difficult  most  of  us  find  it 
even  to  keep  the  ideal  in  mind  when  dealing  with  everyday 
affairs.  Yet  we  sometimes  meet  men  and  women  who  do  seem 
able  to  follow  out  the  injunction  to  a  remarkable  degree,  and 
who  can  as  a  consequence  not  only  apply  the  power  of  prayer 
to  their  own  everyday  affairs  with  the  most  satisfactory  results 
but  can  also  by  the  same  method  help  others  with  equally  re- 
markable effect  —  so  remarkable  in  fact  that  we  can  account 
for  the  results  only  on  the  basis  of  the  reality  of  spiritual  law. 

It  should,  however,  be  recognised  that  only  those  who  pray 
or  who  are  conscious  of  being  prayed  for  are  able  to  perceive 
the  result  of  such  prayer  when  applied  to  everyday  affairs. 
No  proof  is  possible,  at  least  in  the  majority  of  cases,  that 
what  appears  as  the  direct  result  of  prayer  might  not  have  been 
manifested  without  prayer.  Therefore,  the  attempt  to  explain 
all  the  circumstances  to  any  one  who  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
practical  value  of  prayer,  and  to  suggest  that  the  result  was 
due  to  prayer,  would  generally  be  met  with  incredulity. 

Indeed  the  results  of  prayer  in  the  affairs  of  daily  life, 
especially  in  the  case  of  serious  trouble  such  as  impending  ruin, 
are  often  apparently  so  wonderfully  natural  in  operation  that 
the  man  who  has  taken  refuge  in  prayer  does  not  himself  al- 
ways realise  the  remarkable  changes  which  have  brought  har- 
mony out  of  chaos  as  being  due  to  prayer  either  on  his  own 
part  or  on  the  part  of  others.  It  is,  however,  impossible  for 
anybody  who  has  made  any  serious  endeavour  to  investigate 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  293 

the  subject  to  doubt  the  supreme  value  of  prayer  in  the  every- 
day affairs  of  life.  But  each  one  of  us  nuist  put  prayer  to 
the  test  for  himself  before  he  can  learn  what  is  the  real  value 
of  prayer,  and  if  he  does  this  consistently  and  with  absolute 
sincerity  he  will  not  long  remain  in  doubt  as  to  the  place  it 
should  take  in  the  everyday  aft'airs  of  his  own  life. 

Its  Place  and  Value  in  the  Healing  of 
Sickness  and  Disease 

In  dealing  with  the  reality  and  power  of  prayer,  I  have  al- 
ready referred  to  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  His  in- 
junctions to  His  disciples  to  heal  the  sick.  All  these  indicate 
very  clearly  the  rightful  place  and  real  value  of  prayer  in  the 
healing  of  sickness  and  disease.  Yet  to-day  only  one  section 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  that  section  comparatively  new 
and  generally  regarded  as  unorthodox,  looks  upon  prayer  as  a 
practical  method  of  healing. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  indeed,  there 
is  considerable  evidence  that  healing  by  prayer  w^as  commonly 
resorted  to;  but  for  many  centuries  this  method  of  healing  has, 
for  all  practical  purposes,  been  a  dead  letter.  It  is  true  that 
the  Christian  Church  has  alwavs  included  among  its  duties 
that  of  praying  for  the  recovery  of  the  sick,  and  there  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  remarkable  cases  of  healing  recorded. 
There  have  also  arisen  occasionally  small  sects  of  faith-healers, 
but  the  Christian  Church  as  a  whole  has.  since  the  third  century, 
certainly  not  regarded  prayer  as  a  practical  method  of  healing 
sickness,  even  if  it  did  so  then.  However,  during  the  last  few 
years  the  subject  has  aroused  a  great  deal  of  interest,  and  this 
would  appear  to  be  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  due  to  the  dis- 
covery, by  Mary  Baker  Eddy,  of  the  fact  that  prayer  repre- 
sents the  operation  of  spiritual  law,  and  to  the  consequent 
founding  by  her  of  what  is  known  as  the  Christian  Science 
movement. 

It  has  often  been  noted  how  God  chooses  the  w'eak  things 
of  this  world  to  confound  the  mighty;  and  it  is  certainly  a 
curious  and  remarkable  fact  that,  at  the  very  time  when  some 
of  the  greatest  scholars  of  the  Christian  Church  (since  known 
as  the  "  Higher  Critics  ")  were  endeavouring  to  explain  away 
the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  disciples,  a  woman  who 
had  had  but  few  educational  advantages  w^as  founding  a  new 
section  of  this  Church  which  was,  in  some  measure  at  least, 


294  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

demonstrating  not  only  the  possibility  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus 
but  also  the  fact  that  they  are  still  possible  to  all  Christians, 
and,  moreover,  that  they  rest  upon  a  scientific  basis. 

The  Christian  Science  movement  has,  of  course,  met  with 
vigorous  opposition  both  from  other  sections  of  the  Christian 
Church  and  also  from  the  strongly  entrenched  medical  pro- 
fession, which,  it  must  be  recognised,  really  owes  its  present 
powerful  position  to  the  failure  of  the  Church  to  continue  to 
carry  out  the  injunction  of  its  Founder  to  heal  the  sick;  but, 
if  healing  sickness  by  prayer  rests  on  the  operation  of  spiritual 
law,  it  is  clearly  a  more  truly  scientific  method  than  that  prac- 
tised by  the  medical  profession,  and  the  experience  of  those 
who  have  put  both  methods  to  the  test  appears  to  prove  un- 
questionably that  this  is  the  case. 

Thus  the  position  created  by  Mrs.  Eddy  is  obviously  a  diffi- 
cult one  both  for  the  Christian  Church  as  a  whole  and  for  the 
medical  profession,  seeing  that  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  the 
Christian  Science  Church  continues  to  grow,  and  in  proportion 
to  its  membership  is  probably  the  wealthiest  and  most  pro- 
gressive Church  in  Christendom  to-day.  Some  of  the  ablest 
men  in  other  sections  of  the  Christian  Church  and  in  the  med- 
ical profession  have  attacked  it,  but  apparently  without  clearly 
understanding  its  teaching.  They  have  not  been  able  to  dis- 
prove the  soundness  of  its  basic  principle,  whereas  they  have 
been  forced  to  acknowledge  that  it  works;  and  further  they 
have  been  obliged  to  confess  that  its  members  not  only  profess 
to  heal  the  sick  by  means  of  prayer  alone  but  actually  do  heal 
them.  Yet  if  other  sections  of  the  Christian  Church  acknowl- 
edge the  truth  of  Christian  Science,  it  necessarily  means  the 
surrender  of  some  of  their  most  cherished  beliefs;  and  if  the 
medical  profession  likewise  acknowledges  its  truth,  it  means  the 
admission  that  its  own  work  is  purely  empirical  and  its  basis 
unsound.  Obviously  the  position  is  an  extremely  difficult  one 
for  both;  yet  sooner  or  later  the  questions  at  issue  must  be 
faced.  The  position  is  also  rendered  more  difficult  than  it 
otherwise  need  have  been  by  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Eddy  and  her 
teaching  have  been  very  much  misrepresented  and  misunder- 
stood. Yet  the  philosophy  on  which  the  teaching  is  grounded 
is  very  simple,  and  the  reason  that  it  appeals  to  business  men 
is  not  onlv  that  Christian  Science  heals  but  that  it  presents  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  scientifically  demonstrable  religion 
based  on  the  perfection  and  infinitude  of  God  and  all  that  logi- 
cally follows  therefrom.     Its  teaching,  therefore,  differs  from 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  295 

that  of  other  Christian  Churches  only  to  the  extent  to  which 
their  teaching  is  not  in  logical  accord  with  these  accepted  facts 
upon  which  all  Churches  are  equally  agreed,  viz.  that  God  is 
perfect  and  infinite.  The  difference  is,  however,  fundamental 
as  it  involves  the  question  of  the  absolute  and  the  relative  in 
relation  to  reality,  and  the  recognition  in  the  absolute  sense 
that  God  and  all  that  He  includes  can  alone  be  real. 

Mrs.  Eddy's  great  contribution  to  the  world's  thought  would 
appear  to  be  first  her  discovery  of  the  reality  of  spiritual  law; 
secondly  her  clear  recognition  that  only  teaching  that  is  in 
logical  accord  with  the  perfection  and  infinitude  of  God  can 
be  true;  also  that  all  truth  must  follow  and  be  discoverable 
from  these  basic  facts.  The  Christian  Science  power  to  heal 
by  prayer  is  entirely  based  on  the  truth  of  this  teaching  and 
appears  to  prove  beyond  all  question  or  doubt  the  reality  of 
spiritual  law. 

During  the  past  few  years,  I  have,  in  a  modest  way,  en- 
deavoured to  arrive  at  the  truth  in  this  matter.  What  I  have 
written  in  this  essay  is  largely  the  result  of  my  own  experience 
and  of  what  I  have  learnt  in  endeavouring  to  put  healing  by 
prayer  to  the  test.  Recognising,  however,  the  weaknesses  in 
my  own  character,  I  was  not  satisfied  to  judge  the  reality  of 
spiritual  law  by  whether  or  not  I  could  myself  rightly  pray; 
consequently,  I  decided  as  a  rule  to  seek  help  from  others  for 
cases  of  healing  as  they  came  to  me,  and  to  watch  the  results. 
The  results  have  not  been  all  that  I  could  wish,  but  on  the 
whole  they  have  been  so  unmistakable  and  so  valuable  as  to 
convince  me  that  it  would  be  absolutely  impossible  for  any 
man  honestly  to  investigate  the  subject  of  healing  by  prayer 
without  being  forced  to  recognise  that  spiritual  law  is  a  reality, 
and  that  prayer  represents  the  most  marvellous  power  the 
world  has  ever  known.  Personally,  it  appears  to  me  that  there 
are  human  limitations  to  the  exercise  of  prayer,  but  that,  apart 
from  this,  there  are  and  can  be  no  limitations  to  the  operation 
of  spiritual  law.  Therefore  prayer  should  obviously  have  the 
first  place,  and  is  unquestionably  of  supreme  value  in  healing 
sickness  and  disease. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the 
scholars  in  every  Church  will  recognise  that  in  the  realm  of 
religion  as  in  the  realms  of  business  and  material  science,  all 
progress  must  be  based  upon  and  follow  from  facts,  or  what 
can  be  safely  assumed  as  facts,  and  that  if  the  perfection  and 
infinitude  of  God  are  facts,  as  all  admit,  the  teaching  of  the 


296  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Churches  can  only  be  true  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  in  logical 
accord  with  those  facts.  When  the  teaching  of  all  Christian 
Churches  has  been  corrected  from  this  basis,  will  not  the  unity 
of  the  Churches  be  an  accomplished  fact?  Unity  must  obvi- 
ously be  based  on  absolute  truth  and  that  which  logically 
follows  therefrom. 

Its  Place  and  Value  in  Times  of  Distress 
AND  OF  National  Danger 

If  prayer  is  what  I  have  endeavoured  to  represent  it  to  be, 
that  is  to  say,  if  it  is  individual  and  if  it  is  of  proved  practical 
value,  then  it  must  manifestly  be  the  strength  and  stay  of 
those  who  rely  upon  it  in  all  times  of  distress  and  a  sure  de- 
liverer in  times  of  national  danger. 

A  striking  instance  of  this  was  related  to  me  soon  after  the 
great  German  rush  on  Paris.  The  people  of  Paris  had  been 
suddenly  awakened  to  the  imminence  of  the  danger  that  threat- 
ened them,  and  thousands  were  hastily  gathering  their  belong- 
ings together,  and  fleeing  from  what  they  felt  was  a  doomed 
city.  Indeed  the  French  Government  had  already  left,  and 
the  fall  of  the  city  was  hourly  expected. 

Meanwhile,  the  members  of  a  small  Christian  Church,  who 
knew  something  of  the  power  of  prayer,  had  met  to  decide 
what  was  the  right  course  for  them  to  pursue.  The  moment- 
ous question  was  whether  they  and  their  families  should  also 
flee,  or  whether  they  ought  to  remain  and  rely  upon  the  power 
of  prayer  to  save  the  city.  They  decided  to  remain  and  to 
spend  the  time,  until  the  future  of  the  city  was  decided,  in 
prayer  for  its  deliverance  from  the  oncoming  German  hosts. 
The  world  was  waiting  in  breathless  suspense,  expecting  to 
hear  that  Paris  had  fallen ;  but  instead  of  this  came  the  astound- 
ing news  that,  for  some  then  unknown  reason,  the  German 
hosts  had  suddenly  retired  and  that  thus,  at  the  very  last  mo- 
ment, the  city  had  been  delivered. 

Those  who  had  depended  upon  God  for  the  deliverance  of 
their  beautiful  city  and  of  all  those  in  it  who  were  dear  to 
them,  had  not  prayed  in  vain.  They  had,  at  least  to  them- 
sevles,  proved  what  should  be  the  place  and  what  is  the  value 
of  prayer  in  times  of  distress  and  national  danger. 


SPIRITUAL  LAW  AND  REALITY  297 


Its  Place  and  Value  in  Relation  to  National 
Ideals  and  World-Progress 

National  ideals  represent  the  highest  sense  of  good  which  a 
nation  is  striving  to  attain  and  actualise,  or,  in  other  words, 
they  represent  a  nation's  unconscious  seeking  after  God. 
Hence  these  ideals  will  be  in  accord  with  the  best  thoughts  of 
the  individual  members  of  the  nation.  All,  therefore,  that  has 
been  said  in  regard  to  the  relation  of  prayer  to  the  State  ap- 
plies equally  to  national  ideals. 

To  the  extent  to  which  prayer  finds  its  rightful  place  in  the 
lives  of  the  individuals  composing  a  nation  will  the  ideals  of  the 
nation  be  attained,  since  the  more  fully  men  open  their  minds 
to  God  the  clearer  must  be  their  vision  of  the  nation's  highest 
needs.  Ideals  are,  therefore,  as  I  have  said,  the  unconscious 
seeking  of  men  for  God,  or  their  striving  for  their  highest 
sense  of  good.  Thus  the  world's  progress  is  necessarily  the 
progress  of  men  towards  God.  Indeed  there  is,  and  can  be, 
no  other  real  progress,  since  all  perfection  is  the  perfection  of 
God  and  His  perfect  spiritual  creation  seen  as  yet  "  through 
a  glass  darkly,"  and  so  all  progress  is  the  progress  of  man 
towards  seeing  this  perfection  more  clearly,  or  in  other  words, 
coming  more  and  more  into  harmony  with  God.  Now  this  is 
exactly  the  function  of  true  prayer.  Consequently  prayer  is 
of  the  utmost  practical  value  in  the  following  out  of  national 
ideals  and  helping  forward  the  world's  progress  to  the  time 
when  all  men  shall  awake  with  His  likeness. 

In  conclusion,  I  venture  to  submit,  for  the  consideration  of 
all  who  are  interested,  the  following  questions : 

(i)  What  is  the  nature  of  God?  (2)  What  is  the  relation 
of  God  to  the  material  world?  (3)  What  is  man?  (4) 
What  is  the  relation  of  God  to  man ?  (5)  What  is  the  relation 
of  the  spiritual  man  to  the  material  man  ? 

That  the  above  questions  go  beyond  the  immediate  scope  of 
this  essay  I  admit,  but  they  are  so  vital  to  the  subject  of  prayer 
that  it  has  been  necessary  in  writing  to  indicate  answers  to 
them.  They  are,  however,  questions  to  which  it  is  of  the  great- 
est importance  that  exact  answers  should  be  formulated  in  the 
light  of  the  teachings  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  if  the  full 
significance  of  prayer  is  to  be  rightly  understood.  Conse- 
quently, they  should  be  frankly  faced,  not  only  by  all  sections 
of  the  Christian  Church  but  by  every  thoughtful  Christian  in- 


298  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

dividiially,  for  if  answer  to  prayer  is,  as  I  have  endeavoured 
to  show,  the  proof  of  the  reahty  of  God,  and  represents  the 
operation  of  spiritual  law,  then  the  Christian  Church  and  every 
member  of  it,  has,  in  prayer,  the  means  of  proving  the  correct 
answers  to  these  questions,  the  full  understanding  of  which 
must  ultimately  lead  to  the  solution  of  all  life's  problems. 


XIII 

FROM  THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  AN 
EVANGELIST 

BY 

CHARLES   MASON 

BATTERSEA,     LONDON 


XIII 

FROM  THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  AN 
EVANGELIST 

"  Have  Faith  in  God  " 

When  first  I  was  converted  to  God,  this  was  my  motto,  and  it 
has  been  so  ever  since. 

My  mind  returns  to  thirty-six  years  ago,  when  I  began  to 
pray  for  the  first  time.  I  had  said  prayers,  but  did  not  know 
their  meaning  or  their  power. 

I  was  then  a  young  soldier  in  the  Queen's  army,  addicted  to 
drink  and  gambHng  and  to  other  vices.  I  had  tried  many 
times  to  turn  over  a  new  leaf  —  only  to  blot  it  and  make  it 
worse  than  those  before  it.  After  all  these  failures,  a  great 
change  of  heart  took  place  within  me  and  the  change  was 
effected  by  the  power  of  prayer  and  the  Word  of  God.  It  was 
sudden  and  complete,  because  God  did  it. 

My  conversion  came  about  in  this  way.  One  evening  I 
entered  a  Soldiers'  Home  and  heard  an  address  on  these  words : 
"  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will 
I  confess  also  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  but  who- 
soever shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven"  (Matt.  x.  32,  33). 

The  address  was  powerful,  the  speaker  earnest,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  convinced  me  of  sin.  The  preacher  laid  great 
stress  on  confessing  Christ  with  the  lips.  "  More  courage  was 
needed,"  he  said.  "  than  to  face  a  cannon."  I  felt  my  cowar- 
dice. I  had  not  had  courage  to  kneel  down  before  my  com- 
rades. I  was  afraid  of  a  sneer  or  a  laugh.  How  true  it  is  that 
"  the  fear  of  man  bringeth  a  snare  "  (Prov.  xxix.  25). 

Although  no  invitation  was  given  to  anxious  inquirers  at 
the  end  of  the  sermon,  I  left  my  two  comrades  and  rushed  up  to 
the  platform.  "  Can  I  ask  a  question?  "  I  said  to  the  preacher. 
"  Yes,  what  is  it  ?  "  "  Can  God  save  me  from  gambling,  drink- 
ing, swearing,  and  smoking?  "  "  Most  assuredly,"  he  replied. 
"  I  wish  then,"  I  said,  "  to  be  saved."  The  evangelist  was 
taken  by  surprise,  and  called  the  workers  to  the  front.     "  I 

301 


302  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

believe,"  he  said,  "  this  young  man  is  in  earnest.  Let  us  pray 
for  him."  A  number  of  Christians  began  to  pray,  and  from 
that  time  I  knew  the  value  of  prayer  for  the  soul.  After  some 
time  we  all  got  up  from  our  knees,  but  I  felt  disappointed.  "  I 
don't  feel  anything,"  I  said;  "  I  am  not  saved." 

The  evangelist  knew  his  business,  and  took  me  to  the  Word 
of  God.  "  It  is  not  feeling,"  he  said,  "  but  believing." 
"  Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God,  for  he  that 
Cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is  "  (Heb.  xi.  6).  He  went 
into  the  Scriptures,  taking  passages  such  as  this :  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  "  (John  iii.  36),  laying 
great  stress  on  the  word  "  hath."  He  carried  me  away  from 
my  feelings  into  the  presence  of  God,  and  said  that,  if  I  obeyed 
his  instructions,  I  should  feel  and  know  the  power  of  God. 
"  Kneel  down  by  your  cot,"  he  said,  "  when  you  enter  your 
room  this  evening ;  ask  for  power  to  confess  Christ  with  your 
lips;  then  get  up  and  do  it.     God  will  enable  you  to  do  it." 

I  obeyed  the  order  of  the  man  of  God  as  if  I  was  on  the 
parade  ground.  I  went  back  to  my  quarters,  and  as  I  entered 
the  barrack-room  I  was  invited  to  join  a  party  of  card-players, 
and  they  looked  very  much  surprised  when  I  refused.  I  went 
straight  to  my  cot,  got  my  regimental  Bible,  and  began  to  read 
it,  though  all  the  time  I  felt  a  great  coward,  and  my  heart  was 
beating  fast.  Then  I  knelt  down  and  asked  God  to  give  me 
power  to  confess  Christ  with  my  lips  before  the  lights  were 
turned  off.  The  twenty  men  that  were  in  the  room  gathered 
round  my  cot  as  I  prayed,  and  I  heard  them  passing  many  re- 
marks. One  old  comrade  said,  "  He  is  too  hot,"  and  he  got 
a  pail  of  cold  water  and  poured  it  on  my  head,  so  that  the 
water  made  me  wet  through.  Then  I  felt  the  Spirit  of  God 
come  upon  me,  and  I  was  weeping  and  laughing  at  the  same 
moment.  I  rose  from  my  knees  a  new  creature  in  Christ.  I 
said  to  the  men :  "  I  have  received  Christ  Jesus  as  my  Saviour. 
I  am  a  saved  man."  The  men  looked  puzzled,  and  discussed 
for  a  long  time  what  I  had  said. 

Now,  to-day,  looking  back  over  thirty-six  years,  I  can  truly 
say  God  has  by  His  power  preserved  me  from  the  drink  curse 
and  the  gambling  curse,  from  swearing  and  smoking,  and  has 
also  taken  away  the  craving  and  the  inclination.  I  am  glad 
of  this  opportunity  of  telling  my  experience  to  others. 

At  the  commencement  of  my  spiritual  life,  I  asked  God  to 
give  me  time  to  pray  and  to  study  the  Word.  Pie  answered 
that  prayer.     I  fixed  my  own  time  at   four  o'clock  in  the 


FROM  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  303 

morning-,  and  then  I  asked  God  to  wake  me  at  that  hour,  and 
for  ten  years,  summer  and  winter,  1  kept  to  that.  From  four 
o'clock  until  eight  I  spent  the  time  with  God  in  my  room  alone, 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  in  severe  weather,  without  any  alarum- 
clock.  When  I  awoke  and  lighted  my  candle,  I  was  always 
quite  sure  about  the  time  before  I  looked  at  my  watch.  I  was 
hardly  ever  five  minutes  out.  I  have  no  need  for  that  now; 
I  can  meditate  in  my  bed  as  well  as  sitting  in  a  room,  because 
I  have  hid  the  Word  in  my  heart. 

My  first  method  was  to  give  a  name  to  each  chapter  in  the 
Bible,  so  that  I  might  become  familiar  with  the  whole  book. 
That  gave  me  11 89  names.  I  tried  many  ways  of  getting 
the  whole  of  the  Bible  to  come  in  the  days  of  the  month,  the 
thirty-one  days,  so  many  chapters  daily,  as  is  done  with  the 
Psalms  in  the  Church  of  England  Prayer  Book.  I  found 
when  I  had  named  the  Psalms  that,  without  referring  to  the 
Prayer  Book,  I  knew  the  Psalms  for  each  day,  and  I  never 
forgot  them.  As  I  could  thus  remember  the  150,  I  thought 
I  might  try  the  whole  of  the  Bible,  to  obtain  some  method  of 
reading  it  through  twelve  times  in  a  year.  As  it  would  take 
too  much  space  to  describe  my  method  of  reading  through  the 
Bible  fully,  I  give  two  books  as  an  illustration.  Having  read 
a  chapter  carefully,  I  selected  a  word  to  name  it,  taken  from 
the  chapter  and  suggesting  the  subject  it  dealt  with.  Thus  all 
my  chapters  were  named  from  words  within  themselves,  in  no 
case  from  a  word  of  my  own,  so  that  the  Word  of  God  should 
abide  in  me. 

There  are  sixty-six  Books  in  the  Bible,  and  I  give  the  ninth 
and  the  fortieth  to  show  my  method. 

Every  chapter  had  a  different  word  and  I  kept  all  these 
words  in  my  memory,  thus,  by  naming  the  word,  I  could  call 
to  mind  any  chapter  in  the  Bible. 


Days  of  Month 

Book  p,  I  Samuel 

Book  40,  Matthew 

I 

Hannah. 

Generation. 

2 

Lord. 

Wise. 

3 

Speak. 

Repentance. 

4 

Ichabod. 

Peter. 

5 

Dagon. 

Mouth. 

6 

Cost. 

Alms. 

7 

Hitherto. 

Mote. 

8 

Best. 

Leper. 

9 

Top. 

Palsy. 

10 

Garrison. 

Apostle. 

II 

Glad. 

Friend. 

12 

Consider. 

Meaneth, 

304  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


Days  of  Month 

Boofe  p,  /  Samuel 

Book  40,  Matthew 

13 

Caves. 

Parables. 

14 

Work. 

Birthday. 

IS 

Agag. 

Tradition. 

16 

Appearance. 

Christ. 

17 

Goliath. 

Transfigured, 

18 

Wisely. 

Converted. 

19 

Michael. 

Impossible. 

20 

Meat. 

Labourer. 

21 

Fear. 

Hosanna. 

22 

Doeg. 

Wedding. 

23 

Smite. 

Pharisee. 

24 

Hurt. 

Mount. 

25 

Nabal. 

Virgin. 

26 

Sinned. 

Gethsemane. 

27 

Achish. 

Crucified. 

28 

Disguised. 

Magdalene. 

29 

Reconcile. 

30 

Tarrieth. 

31 

Gilboa. 

I  have  as  I  just  said  named  all  my  chapters  from  within 
themselves,  without  adding  one  word  of  my  own,  so  that  the 
Word  of  God  should  abide  in  me.  I  do  not  think  that  memory 
is  cultivated  among  us  as  it  ought  to  be.  The  apostle  Paul, 
as  may  easily  be  shown  from  his  writings,  thought  it  essential 
to  salvation.  "  Moreover,  brethren,  I  declare  unto  you  the 
gospel  which  I  preached  unto  you,  which  also  ye  have  received, 
and  wherein  ye  stand ;  by  which  also  ye  are  saved,  if  ye  keep  in 
memory  what  I  preached  unto  you  "  (i  Cor.  xv.  1-2). 

The  servant  must  not  be  above  being  taught.  For  this 
reason  I  devised  some  simple  rriethods  for  myself,  and 
I  will  give  a  few  of  them  in  the  hope  that  others  may  be 
led  to  a  simple  plan  of  aiding  the  memory.  I  have  made 
many  acrostics  for  myself,  that  the  Word  of  God  may  abide  in 
me.  If  we  make  our  own  acrostics,  they  are  of  greater  interest 
and  more  easy  to  remember. 

After  four  happy  years  in  the  barrack-room  as  a  witness  for 
the  Lord  Jesus,  the  great  crisis  of  my  life  came.  I  was  at 
that  time  very  happy  and  prosperous,  preaching  as  a  soldier  to 
soldiers  nearly  every  night.  I  had  obtained  a  Certificate  for 
Pioneer  Sergeant,  and  was  well  in  with  the  officers  in  my  regi- 
ment, when,  suddenly,  all  my  plans  were  upset  in  a  way  I  had 
never  dreamed  of.  I  received  a  letter  from  a  man  of  God, 
which  read  as  follows :  "  Dear  Brother  —  The  Lord  has  told 
me  you  must  come  and  take  special  services  in  the  hall  attached 
tg  the  Soldiers'  Home." 


FROM  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  305 

It  was  like  a  thunder-clap  to  me.  At  that  time  my  own 
plans  were  made.  I  liked  my  position.  God  was  using  me. 
I  had  also  a  leaning  toward  money-making,  and  this  I  found  I 
must  be  weaned  from,  once  and  for  all.  I  answered  that  letter 
by  saying:  "  I  am  a  soldier,  and  I  cannot  come."  But  by  re- 
turn of  post  I  received  another  letter:  "Dear  Brother  —  I 
know  you  are  a  soldier,  but  £21  will  release  you  from  that  duty, 
and  I  am  paying  it."  Now  I  did  not  want  release,  as  I  was 
looking  for  speedy  promotion,  but  I  did  want  to  say  from  my 
heart,  "  Thy  will  be  done."  That  was  a  real  prayer  in  my 
heart,  though  I  had  thought  it  was  God's  will  for  me  to  remain 
at  my  post.  Now  I  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  will  of  God.  I 
always  went  to  the  Bible  for  help,  and  that  has  never  failed  me. 

I  remembered  the  words:  "  And  Gideon  said  unto  God,  If 
thou  wilt  save  Israel  by  mine  hand,  as  thou  hast  said,  behold, 
I  will  put  a  fleece  of  wool  in  the  floor;  and  if  the  dew  be  on 
the  fleece  only,  and  it  be  dry  upon  all  the  earth  beside,  then 
shall  I  know  that  thou  wilt  save  Israel  by  mine  hand,  as  thou 
hast  said  "  (Judges  vi.  36-37).  Now,  I  knew  what  to  do,  and 
this  is  what  I  did.  I  prayed  to  God :  "  Lord,  I  want  to  know 
Thy  will  in  this  matter.  If  it  is  Thy  will  that  I  should  leave 
the  army,  let  me  earn  the  £21  with  my  own  right  hand,  as  a 
token  or  sign  from  Thyself  to  me."  I  put  the  paper  inside 
my  Bible  with  those  words  written  on  it.  and  answered  the  man 
of  God :  "  You  must  not  pay  any  money  for  the  purchase  of 
my  discharge  from  the  army.  I  have  put  the  matter  into  the 
Lord's  hand." 

That  afternoon,  as  I  crossed  the  barrack-square,  I  found 
a  parcel  containing  some  paints,  cardboard,  and  small  brushes. 
I  put  the  cardboard  on  the  table  and  began  drawing  the  Union 
Jack  and  the  regimental  colours.  Then  I  painted  them.  A 
soldier  looking  on  said :  "  I  did  not  know  you  were  an  artist." 
"  Well,"  I  said,  "  neither  did  I  know  it  myself."  He  pressed 
me  to  sell  him  the  painting  for  3s.  6d.  I  went  into  the  town, 
bought  paints,  brushes,  and  cardboard,  and  again  began  paint- 
ing our  regimental  colours.  The  orderly  sergeant  said  I  was 
a  genius.  The  paintings  were  all  of  new  designs,  and  the 
offers  for  them  ran  up  to  5s.  The  third  one  brought  7s.  6d. 
Soon  I  had  some  hundreds  of  names  waiting  for  a  painting, 
and  before  I  realised  what  had  happened.  I  had  the  £21  earned 
with  my  own  right  hand.  But  I  found  the  love  of  money  was 
on  me,  and  I  did  not  want  to  carry  out  the  will  of  God. 

Shortlv  after  this,   I   became  very  ill  and  was   carried  to 


3o6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

hospital.  I  was  told  I  had  taken  diphtheria,  and  my  throat 
appeared  to  close  up.  When  isolated  and  supposed  to  be 
unconscious,  I  heard  the  doctor  say  that  I  should  not  live 
until  the  morning,  and  that  they  were  to  make  ready  before 
"  lights  out  "  to  take  me  into  the  mortuary.  The  board  to 
lay  me  out  on  was  ordered;  then  I  was  left  with  an  orderly 
to  watch  me.  I  cannot  describe  my  feelings.  I  was  not  afraid 
of  death,  for  I  was  quite  certain  that  I  should  be  with  Jesus, 
but  my  heart  was  not  weaned  from  this  world.  When  I  said 
that  night  in  my  heart:  "Lord,  Thy  will  be  done;  I  will 
leave  the  army,"  I  was  restored  to  health  at  once.  For  some 
days  I  had  trouble  in  persuading  the  doctor  that  I  was  well, 
but  it  was  so. 

I  had  a  fortnight's  leave,  and  that  time  I  spent  in  prayer 
alone  with  God,  and  with  His  Word.  After  returning  to  my 
regiment,  I  handed  the  money  for  my  purchase  to  the  pay- 
sergeant.  He  said,  "  Are  you  mad  ?  Don't  you  know  your 
papers  for  promotion  are  all  signed?"  "  Not  any  good,"  I 
replied;  "I  must  go."  The  colonel  raised  many  objections 
and  sent  my  money  back  to  me,  but  I  appealed  to  a  Member 
of  Parliament  and  was  allowed  to  go.  The  storm  was  over, 
and  the  calm  came. 

I  then  began  my  work  as  an  Evangelist.  I  found  my  chief 
obstacle  was  that  the  people  I  wished  to  visit  did  not  wish 
to  be  visited.  I  recall  one  case  where  the  opposition  was 
overcome  by  the  power  of  prayer.  A  policeman  declared 
that  no  visitor,  such  as  a  clergyman,  missionary,  or  lady  visitor, 
should  ever  enter  his  dwelling.  I  took  up  that  challenge.  The 
scripture  I  took  for  my  inspiration  was  the  well-known  say- 
ing of  Jesus :  "  And  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name  that 
will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son.  If 
ye  shall  ask  anything  in  my  name,  I  will  do  it "  (John  xiv. 
13-14).  So  I  was  quite  sure  of  victory.  I  knew  the  Name. 
The  way  I  meditated  on  it  was  very  simple.  I  give  the  first 
alphabetical  order  only,  as  I  went  through  it  a  number  of 
times,  learning  all  the  verses  by  heart  so  that  I  could  meditate 
upon  that  great  name. 


lA 

Advocate. 

7G 

Gift. 

13M 

Mediator. 

2B 

Bread. 

8H 

Head. 

14N 

Nazarine. 

3C 

Captain. 

9I 

I  am. 

1^0 

Only  begotten 

4D 

Deliverer. 

loT 

Jesus,. 

16P 

Priest. 

SE 

Emmanuel. 

Ilk 

King. 

17Q 

Quickener. 

6F 

Friend. 

12L 

Lamb. 

18R 

Ransom. 

FROM  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  307 

19S     Shepherd.  22V    Vine,  25Y    Yielded. 

20T    Truth.  23W  Word.  26Z    Zeal. 

21U    Upright  One.        24X    Cross. 

For  some  time  I  paid  regular  visits  to  the  policeman's  house 
and  was  often  abused;  but  1  was  sure  of  victory.  The  Word 
gave  me  that  assurance.  I  knocked  one  morning  as  usual, 
and  the  wife  came  to  the  door  and  invited  me  in.  "  My  hus- 
band," she  said,  "  told  me  last  evening,  when  we  passed  you 
in  the  street,  to  let  you  come  in  when  you  called  again."  I 
was  taken  into  the  front  room.  The  man  came  from  another 
room  and  said:  "  Well,  what  is  it  you  want  with  me?  "  "  I 
want  you  for  Jesus.  Whom  have  you  in  the  house?  "  "  My 
wife  and  sister.  Those  are  all  I  have  in  the  house."  "  Call 
them  together,"  I  said.  I  read  the  Word  of  God,  and  knelt 
down  in  prayer.  The  man,  the  wife,  and  the  sister  all  knelt 
down,  and  I  went  out  of  the  house  leaving  them  on  their 
knees  before  God.  The  next  night,  while  on  duty,  the  police- 
man gave  himself  to  God.  He  said  to  me :  "  You  fairly 
praved  me  into  the  kingdom."  I  began  to  teach  him  the 
"  Word,"  the  "  Name,"  the  "  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and  he 
became  a  great  power  in  prayer.  He  gave  me  the  key  of  his 
house  the  fortnight  he  went  on  his  holidays,  so  that  the  prayer- 
meeting  that  we  held  in  that  same  house  should  not  be  inter- 
fered with.  He  would  get  the  room  filled  with  his  comrades 
for  me  to  read  the  Bible  to  them.  He  was  a  good  speaker, 
and  went  miles  to  give  his  own  testimony. 

About  this  time  I  was  asked  to  speak  in  Exeter  Hall  on 
behalf  of  the  Society  to  wdiich  I  belong,  wdiich  was  greatly 
in  need  of  money.  I  sought  my  policeman  and  told  him  my 
plan  for  helping  the  Society,  remembering  that  Jesus  said : 
"  Again  I  say  unto  you  that  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on 
earth  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be 
done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven"  (Matt, 
xviii.  19).  "Now,"  I  said,  "we  will  tell  only  God  about 
this.  We  will  ask  Him  to  do  something  great  at  this  meeting. 
We  ask  in  secret,  and  He  will  reward  us  openly.  Have  faith 
in  God!"  We  both  agreed.  The  result  was  a  gift  of 
£15,000.  The  Secretary  told  me  that  a  lady  came  to  him  and 
said.  "  I  am  going  to  give  £15,000  to  your  Society."  We 
had  had  larger  sums  of  money  from  people  w^ho  had  died, 
but  not  from  any  one  living.  The  Secretary  asked  the  name, 
and  the  lady  replied,  "  Faith  in  God."     That  was  my  text. 


3o8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Our  prayer  was  answered.     The  sum  stands  in  the  report  of 
our  Society  for  that  year  as  a  "  Special  Gift." 

We  must  be  ready  in  prayer  for  all  that  happens  to  us, 
and  in  whatever  position  we  are  placed,  and  so  every  single 
person  should  make  himself  or  herself  acquainted  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  on  prayer.  The  King  should 
know  the  prayers  of  such  men  as  King  Solomon  and  King 
Hezekiah.  The  Prime  Minister  and  every  Member  of  Par- 
liament should  be  well  acquainted  with  the  prayers  of  men 
like  Joseph,  Moses,  and  Daniel.  All  preachers  and  teachers 
should  know  the  prayers  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the 
rest  of  the  prophets.  Women  should  make  particular  study  of 
the  prayers  of  Hannah,  Mary,  and  Anna.  Every  individual 
should  take  lessons  from  God's  Word  at  first-hand.  We  have 
too  much  second-hand  prayer.     It  should  be  new  daily. 

God  first  —  This  order  must  be  observed.  "  But  seek  ye 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you"  (Matt.  vi.  33).  These  great 
and  precious  promises  include  food,  clothing,  and  the  other 
necessaries  of  life,  with  the  means  of  living  an  honest  life. 

I  give  an  illustration  of  this  from  a  time  of  unemployment, 
in  which  there  was  great  distress.  In  one  house  I  found 
four  destitute  cases.  They  would  not  put  God  first,  and  I 
could  see  no  way  to  help  them.  When  about  to  leave  the 
house,  I  was  told  there  was  a  woman  starving  in  the  room 
downstairs.  In  a  dark,  damp,  underground  kitchen,  I  found 
her  sitting  on  an  empty  orange  box,  without  a  stick  of  furni- 
ture and  with  no  fire.  She  told  me  she  came  from  Devon- 
shire and  had  a  praying  mother.  When  first  she  came  to 
London,  she  did  well  as  a  dressmaker,  but  ill-health  brought 
her  into  sore  distress.  I  asked  if  she  was  willing  to  put 
God  first,  and  she  said  she  wished  to  do  so.  I  read  the  Word, 
got  her  on  her  knees,  and  she  obtained  the  peace  of  God. 
"  Now,"  I  said,  "  if  this  is  a  real  work  of  grace,  the  other 
things  are  sure."  While  we  were  praying,  a  gentleman  not 
many  hundred  yards  from  the  house  we  were  in  opened  his 
drawer,  took  some  money  out,  and  said  to  his  son:    "  If  you 

see  Mr. tell  him  I  have  some  money  for  him."     The  son 

met  me  as  I  was  leaving  this  house,  and  I  went  straight  and 
got  the  money.  The  woman  had  food,  clothes,  and  fire,  and 
was  provided  for  from  that  time  onward. 

Jesus  teaches  that  we  should   pray  every  day,   "  Give  us 
this  day  our  daily  bread"   (Matt.  vi.  11).     As  often  as  we 


FROM  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  309 

eat  we  should  pray.  As  the  body  cannot  Hve  without  food 
so  there  is  no  spiritual  life  without  prayer.  If  we  cease  to 
pray,  we  cease  to  grow  spiritually.  I  have  derived  great  help 
by  taking  the  days  of  the  month  and  the  names  of  chapters 
together  to  aid  me  in  the  everyday  affairs  of  life. 

My  method  of  daily  prayer  was  this.  First  Day.  My 
first  chapter  is  "  Created,"  and  the  prayer  suggested  to  me 
is  that  of  David:  "Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,  and 
renew  a  right  spirit  within  me"  (Psalm  li.  10).  This  makes 
a  very  good  start  each  month. 

Or  again,  my  "  Called  "  chapter  is  Prov.  i.  "  Because  I 
have  called  and  ye  refused,  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand, 
and  no  man  regarded  "  (Prov.  i.  24).  Thinking  of  the  wise 
Solomon,  I  remember  what  to  do.  "If  any  of  you  lack 
wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  that  giveth  to  all  men  liberally 
and  upbraideth  not,  and  it  shall  be  given  him  ''  (James  i.  5). 

As  there  are  sixty-six  books  in  the  Bible,  I  have  a  long  way 
to  travel  in  my  mind,  with  the  exception  of  the  five  one- 
chapter  books ;  but  I  take  fresh  thoughts  monthly,  and  it  is 
like  fresh  food  and  of  great  variety. 

There  are  many  things  that  demonstrate  to  the  unprejudiced 
mind  the  power  and  the  reality  of  prayer  in  relation  to  sick- 
ness and  bodily  diseases.  At  the  first  mission  I  took  after  leav- 
ing the  army  over  thirty  years  ago,  when  I  myself  had  been 
healed,  I  could  not  help  giving  my  testimony  to  the  glory  of 
God.  At  that  time,  a  man  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  pray 
that  he  might  be  healed.  "  I  am  a  Christian,"  he  said ;  "  I  have 
a  growth  in  my  throat;  the  doctors  give  me  three  months  to 
live.  I  feel  very  queer  at  times  now.  I  believe  in  faith-heal- 
ing. I  have  been  to  Bethshan,  Mrs.  Baxter's  healing  home, 
but  am  no  better.  I  know  I  had  not  faith  when  I  left  home  — 
at  least.  T  had  a  doubt  about  it  —  so  I  came  back  unhealed. 
But  I  believe  if  you  will  anoint  me  with  oil  and  pray  with  me 
that  I  shall  be  healed."  My  answer  was:  "  I  do  not  under- 
stand what  the  anointing  with  oil  means,  and  it  would  be 
useless  for  me  to  perform  any  ceremony  I  do  not  understand. 
The  Spirit  teaches  that  I  must  pray  with  the  understanding. 
You  are  wrong  on  another  point.  You  must  not  have 
faith  in  my  prayers;  your  faith  must  be  in  God.  God 
honours  His  Son;  it  must  be  for  His  sake.  If  you  leave 
the  oil  out,  and  would  like  me  to  pray  that  God  may  heal 
you,  I  will  do  so."  He  was  cured,  or  made  well,  call  it  what 
you  like.     Twenty  years  after,  in  a  street  in  Folkestone,  I 


3IO  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

lizard  some  one  calling  loudly  to  me  to  stop.  It  was  the 
same  man.  He  took  me  to  his  house.  I  saw  him  again  two 
years  ago,  and  I  think  he  is  still  alive. 

Once  I  was  asked  to  see  a  man  who  was  sick  unto  death 
after  a  critical  operation  had  failed.  His  wife  and  children 
were  weeping.  The  nurse  said  that  he  had  only  a  little  time 
to  live.  As  I  waited  upon  God  for  a  message  for  his  soul, 
God  gave  me  a  message  for  his  body.  The  verse  of  Scrip- 
ture came  powerfully  into  my  mind :  "  Turn  again  and  tell 
Hezekiah,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  David  thy  father, 
I  have  heard  thy  prayer,  I  have  seen  thy  tears,  I  will  add  unto 
thy  days  fifteen  )'ears  "  (2  Kings  xx.  5,  6).  My  message  to 
the  man  was  that  he  would  get  well.  He  tried  to  smile,  but  it 
was  a  poor  attempt.  I  turned  to  the  second  book  of  Kings, 
chapter  xx.,  and  read  the  account  of  the  sickness  of  Hezekiah, 
how  he  turned  to  the  wall  and  prayed,  and  how  the  prophet 
Isaiah  was  sent  back  to  tell  him  his  prayer  was  answered. 
The  result  was  that  this  man  w^as  healed. 

Again,  I  was  asked  to  pray  with  a  woman  who  had  been 
removed  to  hospital  in  a  dying  condition,  suffering  from  a 
complication  of  diseases.  She  could  not  live  more  than 
twenty-four  hours,  the  doctor  said.  The  nurse  said  she  would 
never  be  able  to  walk  again.  She  also  was  cured,  and  she 
walked  again  as  well  as  ever.  This  was  eleven  years  ago, 
and  last  year  she  only  missed  one  day  through  illness  at  the 
school  in  which  she  taught. 

My  experience  is  that  there  is  too  much  criticism  and  preju- 
dice, and  indeed  misunderstanding  on  the  subject  of  prayer. 
Even  the  officials  of  our  Societies  are  afraid  of  giving  offence 
by  boldness  of  testimony.  It  should  not  be  so,  for  we  are  told 
by  the  Spirit  to  speak  of  all  His  wondrous  works. 

We  cannot  conceive  of  a  Church  without  prayer.  Be  they 
few  or  many,  the  people  united  together  must  breathe  in  prayer 
together.  A  body  of  people  not  in  touch  with  the  Head  can- 
not claim  to  be  a  Church,  certainly  not  the  Church.  We  look 
to  the  Head  for  teaching  and  example,  and  we  have  both  of 
these.  "  I  pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of  the 
world,  but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them  from  the  evil " 
(Johnxvii.  15). 

Too  much  has  been  made  of  science,  and  too  little  of 
prayer.  The  infidel  or  secularist  talks  about  science,  but  there 
is  no  true  science  in  such  talk.  They  falsely  charge  the  Chris- 
tian with  opposing  enlightenment  by  encouraging  superstition 


FROM  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  311 

and  ignorance.  Arguments  are  not  of  any  great  value,  but 
examples  of  the  power  of  prayer  are  of  great  weight.  A  num- 
ber of  secularist  halls  and  open-air  meetings  were  in  existence 
in  the  neighbourhood  in  which  I  was  called  to  labour.  I  made 
it  a  matter  of  daily  prayer  that  a  stop  should  be  put  to  them, 
and  they  have  disappeared. 

Finallv,  I  feel  sure  that  national  danger  can  only  be  averted 
and  true  progress  made  by  the  Spirit  of  God  working  in  the 
hearts  of  beUevers.  "  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the 
Lord  will  not  hear  me"  (Psalm  Ixvi.  18).  There  are  many 
reasons  why  prayers  for  the  nation  are  not  answered.  One  is 
suggested  in  the  saying  of  Peter  to  Simon  Magus:  "Thou 
hast  neither  part  nor  lot  in  this  matter,  for  thy  heart  is  not 
right  in  the  sight  of  God  "  (Acts  viii.  21).  As  Simon  thought 
money  would  purchase  the  gift  of  God,  so  to-day  a  common 
cause  of  failure  is  the  love  of  money.  We  are  now  suffering 
from  Mammon-worship,  luxury,  pleasure,  drinking,  an  undue 
love  of  sport,  and  other  evils,  and  the  remedv  is  prayer  and 
the  Word. 

I  know  my  own  unfitness  to  write  a  literary  paper,  having 
lived  and  tried  to  be  one  with  the  poor  in  their  homes.  I 
should  be  glad  if  any  one  wdio  is  capable  of  writing  better 
would  give  my  witness  to  the  world  in  more  suitable  language. 
I  have  not  tried  to  exaggerate  it  or  to  make  it  more  sensa- 
tional, as  I  might  have  done.  What  I  have  written  is  truth, 
and  I  do  want  to  live  for  the  glory  of  God  and  to  testify  to 
the  power  and  might  of  prayer. 


XIV 

PREVAILING  PRAYER  — A  MESSAGE 
FROM  KESWICK 

BY 

E.  KENNEDY 

EDINBURGH 


XIV 

PREVAILING  PRAYER  — A  MESSAGE  FROM 

KESWICK 

The  message  of  Keswick  is  essentially  practical.  It  is  de- 
livered to  those  who  have  already  had  some  Christian  expe- 
rience, to  those  who  know  that  their  s<)ns  are  forgiven  by 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  who  are  still  hungering  after 
peace  and  righteousness.  "  We  receive  our  holiness  out  of 
His  fulness  "  by  fellowship  with  Him. 

"  The  end  of  Christ's  incarnation,  death  and  resurrection 
was  to  prepare  and  form  an  holy  nature  and  frame  for  us 
in  Himself,  to  be  communicated  to  us  by  union  and  fellowship 
with  Him,  and  not  to  enable  us  to  produce  in  ourselves  the 
first  original  of  such  an  holy  nature  by  our  own  endeavour. 

"  Despair  of  purging  the  flesh  or  natural  man  of  its  sinful 
lusts  and  inclinations,  and  of  practising  holiness  by  your  willing 
and  resolving  to  do  the  best  that  lieth  in  your  own  power,  and 
trusting  on  the  grace  of  God  to  help  you  in  such  resolution 
and  endeavour:  rather  resolve  to  trust  on  Christ  to  work 
in  you  to  will  and  to  do  by  His  own  power  according  to  His 
good  pleasure. 

"  He  died,  not  that  the  flesh  or  old  natural  man  might  be 
made  holy  but  that  it  might  be  crucified  and  destroyed  out  of 
us  (Rom.  vi.  6).  and  that  we  might  live  to  God,  not  by  any 
natural  power  of  our  own  resolutions  and  endeavours  but  by 
Christ  living  in  us. 

"  Our  willing,  resolving  and  endeavouring  must  be  to 
do  the  best,  not  that  lieth  in  ourselves  but  that  Christ  and 
the  power  of  His  Spirit  shall  be  pleased  to  work  in  us."  ^ 

The  message  centres  mainly  in  the  words,  "  Abide  in  me. 
As  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  except  it  abide  in  the  vine, 
no  more  can  ye  except  ye  abide  in  me  "  (John  xv.  4).  And 
so  under  many  similes  the  message  is  given  and  received.  The 
abiding  presence  of  Christ  in  the  heart  is  the  gift  of  the 
Holy    Spirit.     It   is   given    to   the   one   who   is    wholly   sur- 

1  Marshall.  Sanctification. 


3i6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

rendered  to  Him.  "  The  Holy  Spirit  was  not  yet  given  be- 
cause that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified"  (John  vii.  39). 

As  one  has  said,  "  In  every  heart  there  is  a  throne  and  there 
is  a  cross.  If  self  is  on  the  throne  then  Christ  is  on  the 
cross,  but  if  self  is  crucified  then  Christ  is  exalted."'  There 
can  be  no  half  measures,  no  keeping  back  part  of  the  price. 
"  Yea,  let  Him  take  all." 

And  so  in  the  solemn  hush  of  that  great  tent  thousands  of 
Christians  have  received  the  message  of  victory  not  only  over 
the  guilt  but  over  the  power  of  sin,  and  have  gone  forth  to 
live  a  new  and  joyous  life.  We  are  the  clay;  He  is  the 
Potter.  We  have  no  more  any  will  of  our  own  but  to  do 
His  will;  no  plan  for  the  present  and  the  future  but  to  abide 
in  Him  and  do  the  next  thing;  no  ambition  but  to  seek  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Life  lived  under  these  conditions  becomes 
wonderfully  simple  and  straight,  and  worry  disappears.  Very 
many  have  been  sent  by  the  message  of  Keswick  far  hence  to 
the  Gentiles ;  others  have  been  and  are  light-bearers  at  home. 
For  every  one  who  has  really  received  the  message  must  pass 
it  on. 

The  speakers  on  the  Keswick  platform  take  a  very  simple 
view  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God.  While  textual 
criticism  and  the  historic  setting  of  the  books  are  mentioned 
little  stress  is  laid  on  these  externals. 

That  aspect  of  the  Higher  Criticism,  which  involves  the 
denying  of  the  miraculous  in  the  Old  Testament  and  even 
sometimes  in  the  New,  is  never  mentioned,  not  that  the  speak- 
ers do  not  know  the  trend  of  modern  thought  but  simply  that 
they  say :  "  The  natural  man  apprehendeth  not  the  things  of 
the  spirit."  The  Bible  is  not  on  a  level  with  Shakespeare  and 
Dante  and  Homer:  it  is  the  Word  of  God.  The  scholar  or 
philosopher,  however  great  his  knowledge  of  language  and 
literature  and  thought,  has  no  weight  at  Keswick  unless  he 
be  living  in  union  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  almost 
childlike  attitude  of  taking  the  Bible  just  as  it  is  and  drawing 
lessons  from  it  is  always  a  revelation  to  newcomers,  especially 
from  Scotland.  Sometimes  it  is  hard  for  a  man  to  give  up 
the  newest  fashions  in  theology  on  which  he  had  rather  prided 
himself  and  learn  to  wait  upon  his  knees  to  receive  his  Father's 
Word.  But  the  man  or  woman  who  can  stoop  low  enough 
will  enter  into  a  life  of  inner  peace  and  outward  service  such 
as  was  undreamt  of  before.     It  is  a  wonderful  experience. 

The  Keswick  speakers  lay  stress  on  daily  Bible  reading  and 


PREVAILING  PRAYER  317 

prayer  as  essential  to  the  Christian  Hfe.  While  books  of 
devotion  are  recommended  as  being  helps  to  the  spiritual  life 
of  some,  the  Morning  Watch,  the  daily  quiet  time  with  God 
and  the  Book  alone  are  necessary  if  spiritual  growth  is  to  be 
maintained.  Different  methods  of  Bible  reading  are  sug- 
gested. Some  read  the  Bible  straight  through ;  others  read 
topically,  taking  such  subjects  as  sin.  sacrifice,  the  promises, 
etc.  Again,  we  can  take  the  types  of  Christ  or  study  one  book, 
pondering  over  every  verse,  even  every  word.  Or  we  can 
read  two  books  together,  such  as  Leviticus  and  Hebrews. 
The  method  must  be  left  to  individual  choice.  The  main 
thought  is  that  daily  the  Christian  receives  the  portion  he 
needs  to  carry  him  through  the  difficulties  and  temptations  of 
the  day.  There  is  here  no  question  of  stored-up  grace  or 
good  works.  Like  the  manna  it  is  *'  the  portion  of  the  day 
in  its  day." 

Prayer  and  Bible  reading  are  the  food  of  the  Christian 
soul.  Without  these  we  starve;  feeding  daily  on  these  we 
grow,  slowly,  it  may  be,  but  surely,  "  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  The  more  we  pray,  the 
more  we  desire  to  pray;  the  less  we  pray,  the  less  we  find 
anything  to  pray  for,  and  so  our  Christian  life  dies  out. 
Nearly  all  cases  of  backsliding  can  be  traced  to  this,  the  neglect 
of  prayer. 

Prayer  in  its  simplest  aspect  is  just  the  child  speaking  to  its 
father,  with  perfect  confidence  in  his  love  and  in  his  interest 
in  the  smallest  details  of  its  daily  life.  There  is  confidence 
also  in  his  power  to  answer  far  above  what  we  can  ask  or 
even  think.  But  its  profounder  problems  —  how  it  is  that  in 
prayer  we  "  move  the  Hand  that  moves  the  world  " ;  how  it 
is  that,  abiding  in  Him,  we  are  led  to  ask  the  things  that  Christ 
Himself  is  asking  in  His  tireless  intercession  before  the  throne, 
—  these  things  are  beyond  our  power  to  understand,  although 
we  may  have  the  experience. 

We  learn  from  the  example  of  such  men  as  Daniel  that 
stated  times  of  prayer,  in  the  morning,  at  noon,  and  at  night, 
tend  to  the  ordered  reverence  of  the  Christian  life.  It  is  right 
to  spend  a  part  of  the  day  alone  with  God,  by  preference  that 
part  when  we  are  freshest  and  our  mind  works  most  clearly. 
Many  find  this  time  early  in  the  morning,  getting  up,  like 
their  Master,  "  a  great  while  before  day."  Others  whose 
daily  work  begins  early  find  that  God  has  appointed  for  them 
a  later  hour.     To  some  a  long  time  is  possible  and  necessary; 


3i8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

to  others  a  short  time.  We  must  have  time  to  forget  time, 
and  to  remember  only  God  and  ourselves.  When  we  enter 
the  inner  room  for  prayer  we  are  commanded  to  "  shut  thy 
door"  (Matt.  vi.  6),  that  is,  to  shut  out  the  world.  If  we 
would  be  definite  in  prayer  we  must  pray  in  words.  It  is  not 
prayer  merely  to  kneel  down  and  let  our  thoughts  wander  in 
the  eternal  spaces. 

Prayer  is  work,  and  takes  a  great  deal  out  of  the  one  who 
prays.  "  Better,  far  better,  do  less  work,  if  need  be,  that  we 
may  pray  more;  because  work  done  by  the  rushing  torrent  of 
human  energy  will  not  save  a  single  soul,  whereas  work  done 
in  vital  and  unbroken  contact  with  the  living  God  wall  tell  for 
all  eternity"   (Walker  of  Tinnevelly). 

Prayer  is  a  battle:  for  in  prayer  as  in  no  other  way  we 
come  in  contact  with  the  powers  of  darkness.  But  only  those 
who  pray  "  with  strong  crying  and  tears  "  know  about  this, 
and  they  do  not  speak  much  of  it. 

Prayer  is  rest:  for  having  cast  our  burden  on  the  Lord 
we  leave  it  there  and  go  forth  free. 

"  Pray  zvithont  ceasing "  refers  to  our  daily  walk  with 
God.  We  go  forth  in  the  morning  from  the  Chamber  which 
looks  toward  the  sunrising;  we  go  forth  with  God,  and  at  any 
moment  of  the  day  as  the  need  arises  we  can  say:  "Lord 
help  me,"  "  Lord  forgive  me,"  "  Lord  undertake  for  me," 
sure  that  our  Father  is  near,  and  that  He  hears  and  will  answer 
in  love. 

A  special  blessing  is  attached  to  the  prayer  of  "  two  or 
three  "  gathered  "  in  my  name,"  even  the  presence  of  the  Lord 
Himself.  In  addition  to  our  secret  prayer  alone  many  of 
us  find  comfort  and  strength  in  uniting  with  others  in  praise 
and  especially  in  intercession.  "  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  as 
touching  anything  that  ye  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Very  many  times  has  this  been 
proved  true  in  Christian  experience. 

The  effect  of  prayer  on  life  is  ever  very  marked. — 
We  cannot  honestly  say,  "  Our  Father  in  heaven,"  and  cherish 
vague  views  about  the  nature  and  love  of  God.  We  cannot 
pray,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  and  take  no  interest  in  foreign 
missions;  nor  "Thy  will  be  done,"  and  be  deaf  to  the  cry  of 
the  downtrodden  in  our  city  slums.  We  cannot  pray.  "  Give 
us  this  day  our  daily  bread,"  and  then  be  consumed  with 
anxiety  as  to  our  provision  for  the  future.  "  Forgive  us  our 
debts  "  means  forgiving  our  brother  first.     "  Lead  us  not  into 


PREVAILING  PRAYER  319 

temptation  "  is  a  mockery  if  we  go  to  places  of  questionable 
entertainment  or  soil  our  minds  by  reading  some  of  the  litera- 
ture of  the  day.  The  effect  of  prayer  on  the  life  is  real  and 
practical. 

Answers  to  prayer  are  real. —  Undoubtedly  God  means 
us  to  ask  and  to  receive.  That  is  told  us  again  and  again.  1  f 
we  fulfil  the  conditions,  God  will  fulfil  His  promise.  It  is 
a  matter  of  general  Christian  experience  that  most  prayers 
are  answered,  but  now  and  again  a  petition  is  offered  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  reply.  Answered  prayer  fills  our  hearts  with 
joy  and  helps  us  to  pray  more  and  ask  for  greater  things. 
Our  asking  can  never  reach  the  level  of  God's  uttermost  to 
give.  Prayer  has  no  limit  geographically.  We  pray 
here  in  Scotland  for  a  boy  in  Africa  whose  name  and  history 
have  been  given  to  us.  We  shall  never  see  him  on  earth,  he 
is  just  a  name  to  us,  "  Ndoria,  the  chief's  son.''  As  we  pray 
we  read  in  the  missionary  magazine  that  Ndoria  has  become 
an  inquirer,  that  he  has  come  to  school,  that  he  is  learning  to 
read.  Some  day  he  will  confess  Christ  and  be  baptized ;  some 
day  we  shall  meet  him  in  the  Glory-land  and  learn  with  ex- 
ceeding joy  the  share  that  we  were  permitted  to  have  in  adding 
another  jewel  to  the  Saviour's  crown.  It  would  be  quite 
impossible  to  write  exhaustively  on  "  Answers  to  Prayer," 
for  every  Christian  life  is  daily  enriched  by  them. 

Unanswered  prayer  presents  a  problem  of  some  difficulty. 
"  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear 
me."  Therefore  before  there  can  be  any  prevailing  prayer 
there  must  be  the  surrendered  life.  We  must  present  ourselves 
a  living  sacrifice  unto  God,  body  and  soul  as  well  as  spirit,  and 
we  dare  not,  like  Ananias,  keep  back  a  part  of  the  price. 
And  yet  this  is  a  far  more  common  reason  for  unanswered 
prayer  than  many  of  us  suspect.  There  is  sin  in  the  life, 
unconfessed  and  un forgiven,  and  so  the  Lord  will  not  hear. 
Want  of  obedience  to  the  known  will  of  God  is  a  constant 
source  of  unanswered  prayer.  Here,  for  instance,  is  a  ques- 
tion of  Christian  giving.  The  Inner  Voice  reminds  us  of 
this  or  that  need,  of  a  missionary  to  be  supported,  or  an 
evangelist  or  teacher.  But  the  giving  means  real  self-denial. 
"  It  is  quixotic ;  it  is  absurd ;  let  me  stick  to  my  tenth  —  surely 
no  one  can  demand  more  of  me  than  that."  So  the  soul 
holds  back;  coldness  falls  on  the  spiritual  life;  prayer  becomes 
a  meaningless  repetition.  Then,  it  may  be.  comes  the  glad 
day  when  we  can  say  triumphantly :    "  Shall  I  offer  unto  the 


320  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Lord  my  God  that  which  costs  me  nothing?"  The  money 
is  joyfully  given,  and  somehow  there  is  no  poverty  but  riches, 
for  the  Lord  repayeth,  not  only  in  joy  but  in  money  also,  a 
thousandfold. 

Again,  want  of  obedience  has  taken  a  very  common  form 
in  praying,  namely  of  demanding  of  God  that  our  dear  ones 
should  come  safely  home  from  the  great  war.  "  What  do  you 
wish  for  most?"  says  the  Voice  like  the  sound  of  many 
waters.  "  To  have  my  boy  safe  home."  After  a  long  inter- 
val the  same  question  comes  again.  And  gradually  from  the 
truly  yielded  heart  comes  another  reply :  "  Let  him  have  God's 
best.  Whether  to  come  home  to  me  or  to  wait  for  me  on  the 
other  side,  let  it  be  God's  best.  Thou  wilt  give  me  strength 
to  bear  Thy  will."  Then,  there  falls  on  the  ear  the  familiar 
words, 

I'll  go  with   Him  through  the  Garden, 
I'll  go  with  Him,  with  Him  all  the  way. 

It  is  a  tremendously  solemn  moment.  The  Garden  —  per- 
haps it  contains  a  soldier's  grave,  but  the  mother  receives 
strength  to  sing  it  quietly,  resolutely.  "  Let  God's  will  be  done 
to  the  uttermost."  And  lo,  almost  before  the  echoes  of  that 
song  have  died  away  the  boy  long  prayed  for  may  be  home, 
safe  and  glad  and  grateful. 

We  are  not  fit  to  receive  what  we  ask  because  we  would 
make  an  unworthy  use  of  it.  We  go  back  to  the  thought  of 
the  little  child  and  the  father;  which  is  so  suggestive.  A  child 
asks  his  father  for  a  knife,  but  the  request  obviously  cannot 
be  granted;  for  the  child's  own  good  the  gift  must  be  with- 
held. When  the  child  is  old  enough  to  use  a  knife  wisely,  or  a 
watch  or  a  bicycle  or  whatever  it  may  have  been,  his  loving 
father  will  give  him  his  heart's  desire.  So  many  in  the  in- 
fancy of  the  Christian  life  desire  the  weapons  of  maturer  age 
which  they  would  not  be  able  to  use  if  they  had  them.  That 
which  we  have  prayed  for,  and  grown  weary  in  praying  for, 
and  given  up  praying  for,  is  often  granted  to  us  at  last  when 
we  are  fit  to  receive  it. 

Again  our  request  may  not  be  in  accordance  with  the  will 
of  God.  We  ask  blessings  for  ourselves  and  those  dear  to 
us  such  as  prosperity,  health,  success,  popularity,  long  life,  and 
happiness.  But  God  may  have  some  better  things  for  us.  We 
are  the  stones  that  are  being  made  ready  for  our  place  in  the 
Temple  above.     No  sound  of  mason's  tool,   no  cutting  or 


PREVAILING  PRAYER  321 

carving  mars  the  holy  silence  of  God's  dwelling-place.  The 
stone  has  to  be  made  ready  here  —  the  corners  squared,  the  sur- 
face smoothed,  even,  perhaps,  a  large  piece  taken  off  if  the 
stone  is  too  big  for  its  place.  This  means  pain,  sorrow, 
poverty,  humiliation,  but  these  become  by  His  touch  God's 
best  for  our  lives. 

One  kind  of  prayer  we  know  is  always  in  consonance  with 
the  will  of  God,  and  that  is  the  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  an 
individual.  This  is  the  real  burden  of  many  Christians. 
They  cannot  lift  the  weight  of  the  great  world's  sin  which 
presses  so  hard  on  the  Master  Whom  they  love.  But  they 
can  take  on  their  hearts  one  soul,  then  another  and  another, 
and  pray  them  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Sometimes  it  takes 
a  long  time,  sometimes  a  short  time.  The  present  writer  has 
had  the  experience  of  a  soul  being  won  to  Christ  in  a  fortnight, 
and  another  requiring  ten  years  of  daily  prayer.  Here,  indeed, 
we  enter  into  the  Garden  with  Him  and  feel  in  a  feeble  meas- 
ure the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,  which  nailed  Him  to  the 
Cross  long  ago,  and  which  turns  a  deaf  ear  to  His  pleading 
and  scoffs  at  His  love  to-day.  "  Can  ye  not  watch  with  me 
one  hour?  "  And  by  His  grace  we  can.  We  can,  in  a  small 
way,  enter  into  the  travail  of  His  soul,  and  we  can  share  the 
joy  of  Heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth. 

"  Whatsoever  things  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  believe  that 
ye  receive  them  and  ye  shall  have  them"  (Mark  xi,  24).  It 
is  possible  to  thank  God  for  the  answer  to  our  prayer  which 
we  have  not  received  in  experience,  but  which  we  know  is 
surely  coming.  This  is  always  the  case  in  praying  for  the 
conversion  of  individuals.  The  thing  is  true,  although  "the 
time  appointed  "  may  be  "  long."  God  does  not  lay  the  bur- 
den of  a  soul  on  us  until  the  salvation  of  that  soul  is  in  sight. 
The  answer  is  coming  in  God's  good  time.  Why  the  answer 
should  sometimes  be  so  long  delayed  we  know  not.  We  are  on 
mysterious  ground,  for  we  are  fighting  against  the  rulers 
of  darkness.  There  may  also  be  something  in  ourselves  that 
is  hindering.  Sometimes  the  burden  is  very  heavy.  The 
thought  of  the  one  who  scorns  the  Lord  and  tramples  on  the 
Cross  and  is  going  down  unto  death  before  our  eyes  —  that 
and  thoughts  like  them  are  sore,  and  tears  mingle  with  our 
prayers.  And  then  He  lifts  the  burden — "Fear  not,  thy 
prayer  is  heard."  Then  we  can  thank  God  for  the  answer 
that  is  coming  and  take  courage  and  go  on  our  way.  Our 
Lord  shows  us  an  example  of  this  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus 


322  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

when,  before  He  had  spoken  the  word  of  power,  He  said  to 
His  Father,  "  I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me." 

"  Prayer  is  contact  with  God  in  His  matchless  power. 
Service  is  helpful  contact  with  our  fellows  in  their  sore  need. 
Service  grows  out  of  prayer,  simply  and  naturally,  and  only 
the  service  that  does  is  worth  while.  The  rest  only  makes 
statistics. 

"  Service  grows  out  of  our  contact  with  God  even  as  the 
grain  grows  out  of  its  contact  with  the  sun  and  rain  and 
soil.  Such  service  is  as  resistless  in  power  as  is  He  Who 
prompts  it,  though  the  man  serving  does  not  know  much 
about  the  power  at  work  through  his  service.  He  knows  the 
glad  peace  within:  others  know  far  more  about  the  power 
breathing  out  through  his  service"  (S.  D.  Gordon).  We 
do  not  learn  to  pray  by  reading  about  it,  nor  by  selecting  the 
best  methods  and  copying  them ;  we  learn  to  pray  by  praying. 
God  does  not  mean  us  to  copy  any  one.  We  have  to  begin 
at  the  beginning  and  come  as  little  children  to  our  Father  Who 
is  able  and  ready  to  help  us.  We  have  to  be  quite  simple  and 
sincere  with  Him  and  not  pretend  to  any  holiness  which  we 
do  not  possess.  In  fact,  the  more  we  know  of  God  the  more 
are  we  utterly  vile  and  unworthy  in  our  own  eyes ;  the  more 
we  pray  the  more  we  feel  how  little  we  know  and  how  con- 
stantly we  need  to  say,  "  Lord,  teach  me  to  pray." 

Note. —  The  books  most  prized  in  the  Keswick  School 
include  the  following :  — 

Books  on  Prayer 

Andrew  Murray,   With  Christ  in  the  School  of  Prayer. 

S.  D.  Gordon,  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer. 

S.  D.  Gordon,  Prayer  changes  Things. 

Life  of  Hudson  Taylor,  The  Growth  of  a  Soul. 

Dr.  Pierson,  Life  of  George  Muller. 

E.  M.  Bounds,  Power  through  Prayer. 


.  XV 

NEW  THOUGHT  FROM  SOUTH 
AFRICA 

BY 

E.  DOUGLAS  TAYLER 

GRAHAMSTOWN.     SOUTH     AFRICA 


XV 

NEW  THOUGHT  FROM  SOUTH  AFRICA 

Aspects  of  Prayer. —  What  is  prayer  ?  What  does  it  mean 
to  us?     What  does  it  mean  to  you? 

One  of  the  simplest  definitions  of  Prayer  is  "  Speech  with 
God  ";  and  granted  that  we  beheve  in  a  God,  and  believe  also 
that  it  is  possible  to  talk  with  Him,  there  could  be  no  better 
definition. 

All,  however,  have  not  this  simple  belief;  yet  our  need 
for  association  with  some  power  greater  than  ourselves  is 
so  universally  felt,  that  probably  all  such  people  would  gladly 
pray  could  they  only  believe  in  God,  and  in  His  ability  and 
willingness  to  hear  and  answer  prayer. 

In  the  legal  sense,  prayer  means  request ;  and  though  all 
speech  need  not  be  request,  it  implies  at  least  a  desire  for 
mutual  understanding,  or  the  interchange  of  some  personal 
quality  between  those  who  converse.  It  means  give  and  take; 
and  no  sort  of  conversation  would  be  possible  in  which  two 
persons  did  not  give  and  receive  something  —  this  something 
being  thought  or  idea. 

Prayer  and  Science. —  To-day  the  scientific  spirit  colours 
every  sort  of  inquiry  into  the  why  and  wherefore.  Science  is 
occupied  with  the  discovery  of  the  laws  which  govern  life  in 
all  its  aspects.  Law  is  found  to  govern  everything,  even  the 
operations  of  our  minds;  and  if  prayer  be  speech  or  commun- 
ion between  mind  and  mind,  there  must  be  some  law  or  laws 
governing  prayer,  just  as  there  are  laws  governing  speech. 
There  will  be  a  right  and  a  wrong  way  of  praying;  just  as  it 
is  possible  to  talk  in  a  way  that  produces  the  result  required, 
or  in  a  way  that  produces  the  wrong  result,  or  even  practi- 
cally no  result  at  all.  There  is  a  psychology  of  prayer;  and 
as  you  cannot  use  any  law  satisfactorily  without  understanding 
it.  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  we  should  study  the  law 
of  prayer. 

God  and  Man. —  But.  first,  we  must  believe  that  there  is  a 
God  with  a  Mind,  to  Whom  we  may  pray.     How  are  we  to 

325 


326  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

know  that  the  universe  is  not  simply  a  vast  machine,  working 
according  to  set  mechanical  laws? 

Well,  at  any  rate,  there  are  some  things  in  the  universe  that 
are  not  machines.  Man  is  not,  for  one  thing.  His  body 
may  be;  but  the  Mind  of  man  controls  the  body,  or  we  should 
have  "  dead  "  bodies  walking  and  talking  of  their  own  accord, 
and  our  hands  and  feet  doing  that  which  we  do  not  wish  them 
to  do.  If  cart  and  horse  go  along  together,  it  may  be  difficult 
to  tell  whether  horse  pulls  cart  or  cart  pushes  horse;  but  sep- 
arate them  and  there  is  no  longer  any  doubt.  Mind  has 
produced  many  machines,  but  no  machine  has  yet  succeeded  in 
producing  mind. 

Yet  some  scientists  have  said  that  every  cell  in  the  body 
has  some  sort  of  elementar}^  mind  in  it  and  that  the  mind  of 
man  is  the  combined  working  of  all  the  little  cell-minds,  K 
this  be  so,  you  could  not  kill  a  man  except  by  blowing  him 
into  the  smallest  pieces;  but  a  body  may  be  "  dead"  and  yet 
hold  together  for  a  considerable  time.  Does  not  this  show 
that  the  cell-minds  are  controlled  by  some  stronger  central 
mind  while  the  body  is  "alive"?  At  death,  this  central 
mind  leaves  the  kingdom  over  which  it  ruled,  and  the 
members  of  that  kingdom  gradually  disperse  and  come  in 
time  under  the  sway  of  other  rulers.  '  The  body  decays  and 
is  rebuilt  into  other  plant  and  animal  forms. 

H  Man,  then,  be  Mind,  so  also  are  the  lower  animals. 
"  Animal  "  means  something  which  has  mind  or  spirit.  Any 
one  who  has  tried  to  drive  a  donkey,  or  trodden  on  the  cat's 
tail,  or  observed  how  the  insects  build  their  homes  and  pro- 
tect themselves,  may  see  that  animals  have  will  and  feeling  and 
intelligence.     The  wisdom  of  the  ant  is  proverbial. 

The  plants,  too,  have  quite  distinct  powers  of  mind,  and 
show  wonderful  intelligence  in  devising  plans  for  catching 
light  and  moisture,  attracting  fertilising  insects,  preserving 
and  scattering  their  seeds,  and  so  forth. 

The  Pozver  of  Mind. —  But  why  stop  here?  The  earth  was 
formed  from  the  ether  of  space.  Some  energy  shaped  it  into 
roundness  and  sent  it  spinning  round  the  sun,  evolved  its 
chemical  constituents,  combined  them  into  mineral  forms,  built 
the  mineral  forms  into  vegetable  forms,  and  finally  into  animals 
and  into  Man. 

H  Man  is  Mind,  as  he  certainly  is,  whence  came  Mind  into 
the  universe  if  it  has  not  been  there  all  the  time,  the  great 
centre  of  all  things?     Is  not  Mind  the  evolving  power? 


NEW  THOUGHT  327 

You  cannot  get  more  out  of  a  bag  than  is  already  in  the 
bag.  Within  the  universe  there  must  dwell  a  Mind  —  a 
whole  and  complete  Mind  —  that  is  equal,  and  more  than 
equal,  to  anything  that  has  already  come  out  of  it  or  ever 
will. 

Science  tells  us  that  the  amount  of  matter  and  energy  in 
the  universe  is  always  the  same,  but  it  appears  in  different 
shapes  and  forms  that  are  always  changing.  So  may  we  not 
suppose  that  this  one  universal  Mind  is  always  the  same,  but 
manifests  itself  in  all  the  different  ways  we  see  in  the  universe, 
and  probably  also  in  ways  beyond  what  we  can  see? 

We,  and  the  animals,  the  plants,  the  minerals,  are  all  the 
offspring  of  this  great  one  universal  Mind  —  God. 

Mind  and  Personality. —  But  what  is  Mind  after  all? 

First,  it  is  the  quality  of  Personality.  It  is  Mind  which 
makes  the  difference  between  a  Person  and  a  machine.  A 
machine  is  a  form  or  body  which  has  to  be  controlled  by  a 
Person  or  Mind  of  some  sort  before  it  can  do  the  work  for 
which  it  was  formed. 

Every  creature  has  Mind ;  evei*y  creature  therefore  has  per- 
sonality in  greater  or  less  degree.  And  Mind  is  always  mani- 
fested in  Will  and  Feeling  and  Intelligence. 

The  ONE  universal  Mind  —  God  —  must  therefore  have 
Will,  Feeling,  and  Intelligence,  equal  and  more  than  equal 
to  all  we  know^  and  all  we  can  possibly  imagine. 

Will. —  The  first  manifestation  of  Mind  is  Will.  Will  is 
the  power  of  Initiative  —  of  determining  or  choosing  or  be- 
ginning some  course  of  action.  Will  cannot  be  driven ;  it  can 
only  be  led,  and  it  chooses  w^hether  it  wnll  follow  or  no.  But 
there  is  nobody  to  lead  the  Universal  Mind :  God's  Will  is  the 
great  starting-point  of  all  things. 

God,  therefore,  started  the  universe  by  His  Will;  and  the 
way  He  started  it  was  to  Will  or  determine  that  there  should 
be  all  these  countless  smaller  wills  —  images  of  His  own  will 
—  which  we  have  discovered  to  exist  everywhere  in  the  uni- 
verse. He  did  not  make  them ;  for  to  make  is  to  shape  some- 
thing out  of  materials,  and  Will  has  no  shape.  The  individual 
wills  were  generated,  or  conceived  and  begotten  by  the  will 
of  God,  the  great  Father. 

But  as  Will  is  the  pow^r  of  determining  or  choosing,  the 
individual  wills  are  all  in  charge  of  and  responsible  for  every- 
thing they  do  from  that  moment.  We  have  wills;  we  have 
power  to  choose  and  determine  and  to  begin  to  act.     We  can- 


328  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

not  be  driven,  but  only  led.  So  it  is  with  the  animals  and 
plants :  so  it  must  be  with  minerals  and  atoms  and  everything 
else. 

Aifinity  and  Repulsion. —  But  the  less  we  know,  the  less 
there  is  to  choose  from,  the  fewer  actions  are  possible.  What 
do  the  minerals  know?  the  chemical  atoms? 

An  atom  may  know  itself  and  its  neighbours  even  as  we 
do.  It  may  be  either  friendly  or  unfriendly :  it  forms  an 
affinity  with  one  fellow-atom  and  avoids  another  just  as  we 
do.     This  is  Will,  the  first  law  of  the  universe. 

Feeling. —  But  why  should  atoms  —  or  people  —  be  some- 
times friendly  and  sometimes  unfriendly? 

Simply  because  of  their  Feelings. 

If  there  is  anything  in  you  that  supplies  a  want  in  me,  I 
feel  it;  and  my  mind  attaches  itself  to  yours  and  draws  help 
and  nourishment  from  the  contact.  Similarly,  your  mind 
may  find  some  new  help  or  power  through  contact  with  mine, 
or  you  may  even  be  impelled  by  the  growing  power  of  some 
quality  within  yourself  to  impart  it  to  any  one  who  lacks,  and 
is  therefore  able  to  receive  it. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  we  both  are  anxious  to  give  out  the 
same  quality,  we  have  little  use  the  one  for  the  other.  Indeed, 
we  tend  to  push  one  against  the  other,  and  so  separate  our- 
selves. For  example,  two  people  only  bore  one  another  by 
saying  the  same  things  that  are  news  to  neither,  and  each  must 
go  elsewhere  to  find  any  one  ready  to  listen. 

So  we  see  that  the  ideal  Feeling  that  alone  can  make  us  all 
friends  is  the  feeling  of  Give  and  Take,  Everybody  has 
something  to  give  to  others,  for  no  two  of  us  are  quite  alike. 
The  Mind  of  God  has  everything  to  give. 

But  all-take  is  Selfishness.     All-give  is  Suicide. 

Love  is  both  give  and  take. 

Atoms  and  people  show  all  three  kinds  of  feeling. 

The  law  of  Feeling  is  the  second  great  law  of  the  universe; 
and  it  shows  itself  in  all  the  phenomena  of  affinity  and  repul- 
sion, polarity  (positive  and  negative),  and  in  sex. 

Intelligence. —  Feeling,  then,  is  the  receiving  of  impressions 
or  influences  from  without.  But  Mind  always  analyses  and 
digests  the  impressions  which  it  receives;  and  this  spirit  of 
analysis  or  inquiry  is  Intelligence.  By  it  our  minds  are  fed 
and  made  to  grow. 

Creative  Thought. —  And  besides  this  power  of  analysis  and 
digestion,  we  have  that  wonderful  power  of  Creative  Thought 


NEW  THOUGHT  329 

or  Imagination,  by  which  we  can  form  an  image  or  picture  of 
something  which  does  not  yet  exist. 

For  instance,  if  I  see  a  hole,  I  can  imagine  a  peg  to  fit  into 
it.  li  I  see  the  figure  5,  I  can  imagine  it  multiplied  by  2. 
If  I  feel  cold,  I  can  imagine  myself  putting  on  an  overcoat. 

In  the  first  case,  seeing  the  hole  was  the  receiving  of  an 
impression.  Intelligence  said:  "A  hole  is  an  empty  place; 
an  empty  place  can  be  filled."  Creative  thought  conceived  a 
peg  to  fit  the  hole. 

In  the  second  case,  seeing  the  figure  5  was  the  receiving  of 
an  impression.  Intelligence  said :  "  Five  means  so  many." 
Creative  thought  pictured  five  more  units  in  addition  to  those 
already  seen. 

In  the  third  case,  Cold  is  a  Feeling.  Intelligence  said : 
"  There  is  warmth  in  your  body ;  do  not  let  it  escape,  and  you 
will  keep  warm.''  Creative  thought  imagined  an  overcoat 
which  might  be  wrapped  around  the  body. 

Evolution. —  These  four  powers,  Will,  Feeling,  Intelligence, 
and  Creative  Thought,  have  evidently  caused  the  whole  of 
Evolution  —  the  unfolding  of  Life  into  all  its  countless  Forms. 
For  a  single  example,  take  the  animals  of  cold  countries,  which 
grow  thick  fur,  compared  with  those  of  hot  countries,  which 
do  not.  Go  back  far  enough  in  the  history  of  the  planet  and 
you  will  find  that  they  had  common  ancestors,  but  as  their 
Avills  caused  them  to  wander  some  encountered  the  colder 
climates;  their  feelings  told  them  they  w^ere  cold  and  needed 
covering,  and  in  some  w^ay  this  desire  for  covering  became  a 
creative  thought  which  stirred  up  the  possibilities  of  the  Divine 
mind  in  the  depths  of  their  being,  and  this  again  shaped  part  of 
the  material  of  their  bodies  into  fur.  In  the  same  way,  those 
in  the  hotter  climates,  having  no  need  of  such  thick  covering, 
lost  the  desire  for  it  or  else  never  felt  it,  so  that  it  never  came. 

Now  this  cannot  very  well  ht  "  luck  "  or  **  chance  "  ;  nor  can 
it  be  that  God  gave  them  fur  w-ithout  any  co-operation  from 
their  own  minds,  or  He  would  be  able  to  work  such  changes 
at  once  whenever  necessary. 

Death  and  Disease. —  But  these  changes  do  not  come  at  once. 
"  Nature  "  is  always  making  experiments  before  she  succeeds 
in  adapting  herself  to  new  surroundings.  We  cannot  believe 
that  God  would  experiment  and  fail  so  often.  If  a  creature 
suddenly  finds  itself  in  new^  circumstances  it  is  often  greatly 
puzzled  to  understand  them,  and  may  suffer  extremely  before 
it  can  adapt  itself.     \\'e  have  only  to  put  a  plant  into  an  un- 


330  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

accustomed  soil  or  atmosphere,  or  take  an  animal  into  a  new 
country  to  discover  this  truth.  Sometimes  they  do  well ;  some- 
times they  fail  altogether;  but  almost  always  after  many  gen- 
erations they  manage  to  alter  their  bodies  or  habits  to  fit  the 
new  kind  of  surroundings. 

An  animal  or  plant  thinks  slowly  and  laboriously.  But  man, 
with  quicker  intelligence  and  more  developed  powers  of  im- 
agination, can  generally  adapt  himself  readily  to  new  circum- 
stances.    But  not  always. 

It  is  failure  to  adapt  oneself  to  changes  that  brings  disease 
and  death  into  the  world.  The  forces  outside  the  creature 
may  become  too  strong  for  the  body  to  stand,  and  it  is  conse- 
quently crushed  or  damaged.  Or  the  creature  may  give  out 
its  powers  too  constantly  without  devoting  sufficient  time  or 
attention  to  receiving  or  developing  new  powers,  and  thus 
achieve  a  sort  of  unintentional  suicide.  These  two  causes  of 
death  and  disease  have  marked  the  whole  progress  of  evolu- 
tion all  the  way  up,  and  so  we  suffer  to-day. 

Why? 

The  Remedy. —  Because  we  ask  so  little  from  God,  the  Uni- 
versal Father. 

But  why  does  He  not  give  us  what  we  need  without  our 
asking?  Why  does  He  not  adapt  us,  and  the  animals,  to  all 
changes  or  circumstances  as  they  arise,  so  that  we  need  not 
suffer? 

Because,  having  given  us  wills.  He  cannot  force  any  power 
or  quality  into  us  so  long  as  our  will  bars  the  way.  Take 
away  our  wills,  and  at  once  we  should  cease  to  be;  for  will 
is  the  creature's  starting-point  of  individual  existence.  Will 
holds,  and  always  has  held,  the  gateway  through  which  alone 
the  Mind  of  God  can  pass  into  the  life  of  His  creatures. 
Slowly,  slowly,  the  creature  has  let  this  mind-power  through, 
until  the  little  will-centers  in  the  ether  became  developed  into 
atoms,  and  atoms  into  mineral  forms,  and  these  into  plants  and 
animals ;  until  at  last  came  Man  —  a  body  formed  of  the  dust 
of  the  earth,  yet  alive  with  the  in-breathing  of  the  very  Spirit 
of  God  Himself. 

The  Tree  of  Life. —  And  when  at  length  man  came  to  the 
high  dignity  of  realising  this  great  fact  —  that  he  was  in  very 
truth  a  Son  of  God,  then  it  was  that  he  knew  the  way  to  the 
Tree  of  Life  and  was  free  to  eat  the  fruit  of  it.  For  the  Tree 
of  Life  means  Life  rooted  in  God  and  growing  into  many 
branches;  and  it  grows  in  the  Garden  of  the  mind,  which  is 


NEW  THOUGHT  331 

Eden.  And  a  Son  of  God  who  can  live  by  the  fruit  of  this 
Tree  of  Life  need  never  die;  the  Divine  Will  and  Love  and 
Wisdom  and  Creative  Thought  may  be  manifested  in  him 
just  so  far  as  ever  the  individual  can  admit  the  Universal. 

The  Fall. —  But  again  the  crux  of  the  whole  matter  lay  in 
Will.  The  individual  will,  when  put  out  of  harmony  with  the 
Divine  will,  meant  the  closing  of  the  door  upon  the  steady 
inflow  of  Good,  and  the  consequent  realisation  of  Good  and 
Evil. 

And  thus  INTan  fell,  and  thus  he  falls  to-day.  But  though 
this  closing  of  the  gate  of  the  mind  was  no  more  than  all 
Nature  had  already  done  before  him,  yet  for  man  it  was  a 
much  more  serious  matter.  Having  light,  which  Nature  had 
not.  he  chose  and  still  chooses  darkness :  and  this  act  is  Sin. 
And  because  along  with  his  Litelligence  man  had  also  de- 
veloped greater  Feeling,  he  began  to  suffer  as  the  result  of  his 
sin  to  an  extent  that  the  plants  and  lower  animals  could  not 
and  do  not  suffer  when  they  ignorantly  break  law  —  though 
the  more  intelligent  animals  suffer  to  a  considerable  extent. 
Yet  the  lower  orders  of  Nature  cannot  sin.  Before  the  com- 
ing of  Man  into  the  world,  the  creatures  could  not  rise  to  the 
knowledge  of  God.  Cat,  dog,  horse  —  even  human  child, 
cannot  imagine  a  God;  how^  then  can  they  know  Him?  But 
man  is  able  to  think  God,  and  so  is  the  first  creature  v^'ith 
whom  perfect,  instead  of  partial,  union  is  possible. 

The  Temptation  of  the  Serpent. —  But  why  did  man  choose 
to  shut  out  God? 

Doubtless  it  Avas  due  to  the  old  habit  of  self-will  which  ran 
through  the  whole  of  creation  before  him:  the  self-will  due 
to  an  absolutely  inevitable  ignorance  of  the  true  laws  of  Life, 
which  could  only  be  arrived  at  experimentally.  Poor  Nature ! 
See  how  she  wastes  Forms  to-day  in  a  continual  tremendous 
endeavour  to  keep  herself  alive.  See  how^  the  oak  throws  off 
acorns  by  the  hundreds  to  rot  and  perish  for  the  sake  of  one 
or  two  which  survive.  Of  the  codfish's  eleven  million  eggs, 
how^  many  ever  become  f ull-grow^n  fish  ?  These  are  Nature's 
experiments  to  discover  how  to  avoid  death.  "  The  whole 
creation,"  said  St.  Paul,  "  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  to- 
gether until  now,"  waiting  to  "  be  delivered  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption  into  the  glorious  libertv  of  the  children  of 
God."  ' 

This  glorious  liberty  may  be  man's.     It  cannot  yet,  so  far  as 

I  Rom.   viii.    22,   21. 


332  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

we  can  see,  come  to  the  oak  or  the  codfish.  But  man  must 
first  offer  his  will  to  the  will  of  the  Father;  man  must  establish 
the  perfect  condition  of  Give  and  Take,  or  Love,  with  the 
Father,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  with  his  brethren ;  man  must  open 
his  intelligence  to  Divine  inspiration,  or  Holy  Spirit  (inbreath- 
ing), and  also  believe  in  and  allow  the  power  of  Creative 
Thought  to  operate  in  him  and  through  him. 

But  the  serpent  still  tempts  and  deceives  man  through  Eve. 
For  the  serpent  stands  for  Life,^  and  Eve  for  "  Breath"  or 
intelligence;  and  the  intelligence  of  man  believes  the  great  de- 
ception of  life,  that  self-will  is  the  secret  of  life.  Do  not  you 
and  I  still  feel  that  deception?  We  like  to  be  conscious  of  the 
exercise  of  our  wills;  to  rule  and  dominate;  to  endeavour  to 
force  nature  and  our  fellows  and  our  bodies  to  obey  our 
wishes.  But  when  we  do  so,  access  to  the  Tree  of  Life  be- 
comes barred  and  we  are  driven  out  of  the  Eden  of  Divine 
Mind  into  the  outer  world  of  our  own  minds,  where  thorns 
and  briars  hinder  our  painful  labours. 

Salvation. —  Salvation,  then,  could  have  come  to  man  had  he 
flung  open  the  gate  of  his  mind  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  light, 
and  kept  it  open;  but  the  serpent  beguiled  him.  Now  every 
action  is  the  beginning  of  a  habit,  and  every  habit  is  a  chain 
that  grows  stronger  and  stronger.  Man  could  not  free  him- 
self from  the  habit  of  self-will.  But  all  the  time  he  was 
working  among  his  thorns  and  briars,  his  intelligence  was 
growing  by  painful  experiment  and  the  lessons  of  his  mis- 
takes. And  when  his  intelligence  had  reached  a  suitable 
height,  then  God  enacted  the  great  drama  of  salvation  before 
man's  eyes.  He  showed  us  what  we  might  become,  and  how 
it  was  to  be  done.  He  showed  us  an  individual  Will  that  held 
the  door  constantly  open  to  the  inflow  of  Divine  Will;  a  char- 
acter so  full  of  Love  that  it  transcended  every  previous  human 
conception  ;  and  a  power  of  Intelligence  so  exalted  that  it  could 
read  man  and  nature  like  a  book;  together  with  a  creative 
power  that  could  heal  the  sick  and  perform  unheard-of  mir- 
acles —  except  where  other  wills  barred  the  way.^ 

This  Divine  Man  or  Perfect  Son  "  tasted  death,"  it  is  true; 
but  this  of  His  own  will,  in  order  that  He  might  demonstrate 
that  "  it  was  not  possible  that  He  should  be  holden  of  it."  * 
For  God  was  able  to  raise  Him  from  the  dead. 

2  Cf.   Moses'  brazen  serpent,  a  type  of  Christ   (John   iii.    14) ;   also  the  serpents   on 
the  staff  of  Mercury. 

3  Mark  vi.   5. 

4  Acts  ii.  24. 


NEW  THOUGHT  333 

The  Promises  of  Christ. —  And  the  Perfect  Son  promised 
His  followers  all  these  same  powers.  We  have  heard  His 
promises  again  and  again :  immunity  from  poison  and  snake- 
bite; ^  power  to  heal  the  sick  and  raise  the  dead;"  to  ask  for, 
and  receive,  whatever  we  wanted  from  the  Father;"  to  escape 
death  altogether;**  or,  if  we  should  not  achieve  this,  yet  at 
least  somehow  to  recover  from  it  and  be  "  raised  up  "  again 
at  some  psychological  moment ;  '^  to  do  greater  things  than  He 
Himself  did ;  ^"  and,  finally,  to  join  Him  in  some  higher  sphere 
of  existence. ^^ 

It  is  customary  nowadays  to  explain  these  promises  as  some- 
thing figurative,  or  temporary,  or  anything  but  literal ;  yet  it  is 
difficult  to  see  why  this  should  be  so. 

The  Conditions. —  For  Christ  laid  down  conditions  for  the 
fulfilment  of  these  promises.  Of  course  there  must  be  con- 
ditions. Every  law  works  in  two  ways:  one  way  —  if  you 
break  it  —  it  will  be  your  master  and  break  you ;  while  the 
other  way  —  if  you  keep  it  —  it  will  be  your  servant  and  keep 
you.  What  might  have  been  a  man's  corner-stone  may  fall  on 
him  and  grind  him  to  powder,  if  pushed  out  of  its  rightful 
place.  And  if  we  try  to  neglect  law,  to  ignore  it.  or  leave  it 
lying  upon  the  ground,  we  may  fall  over  it  and  hurt  ourselves. 

And  what  were  the  Conditions? 

Knowing  God. —  First,  the  great  law  of  Eternal  Life  must 
be  fulfilled  —  "  To  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  thou  hast  sent."  ^^ 

Now  you  cannot  "  know  "  any  one  until  you  believe,  first, 
that  he  exists;  and  then,  that  he  is  capable  of  being  known. 
After  that  you  cannot  truly  be  said  to  "  know  "  him  until  you 
have  had  some  sort  of  intelligent  intercourse  with  him.  And 
intelligent  intercourse  is  not  simply  "  talking  at  him  "  for  a 
few  minutes  now  and  again. 

Beginning  of  Prayer. —  Yet  how  often  do  we  treat  God  in 
this  way  and  call  it  "  prayer."  Surely  a  far  better  way  to 
get  to  know  anybody  is  to  listen  to  him.  Better  still,  to  watch 
him.  Best  of  all,  to  live  with  him  and  feel  the  radiations  of 
his  presence. 

But  supposing  there  were  an  even  closer  contact  possible. 
Suppose  you  loved  this  person  so  much  that  you  longed  to  offer 
him  not  only  your  house  to  dwell  in  but  your  very  body  itself, 

5  Mark  xvi.   i8.  9  John  vi.   54. 

6  Matt.    X.    8.  10  John  xiv.   12. 

7  John  xvi.  23-24  and  Matt.  xxi.  22.  11  Ibid.  3. 

8  John  viii.   SI.  12  John  xvii.   3. 


334  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

so  that  he  might  act  through  it  and  use  it  as  his  own,  for  the 
manifestation  of  his  character  instead  of  yours,  and  for  doing 
his  own  work  in  his  own  way. 

You  cannot  perhaps  imagine  such  love,  such  surrender,  such 
intimacy.  But  at  least  it  might  be  possible.  We  must  begin, 
perhaps,  in  a  smaller  way. 

Concentration. —  Start  first  of  all  by  no  longer  talking  to 
God.  Listen,  instead.  You  will  hear  no  words;  you  will, 
perhaps,  scarcely  expect  to  do  so.  But  almost  certainly  you 
will  find  your  mind  beginning  to  talk  rapidly  by  itself ;  all 
sorts  of  queer  jumbled  sentences;  broken  meaningless  phrases; 
idle  ideas,  even  nonsense.  This  noisy  mind  is  so  full  of  the 
habit  of  talking  and  so  little  able  to  be  quiet  and  listen,  that  it 
goes  on  like  a  top,  spinning  by  its  own  momentum.  But  even 
a  top  may  be  kept  steady  if  its  rotation  is  constant.  Give  your 
mind  a  sentence  to  say,  some  sentence  embodying  a  helpful 
idea — "Thou,  God,  art  here."  The  mind  can  easily  be  in- 
duced to  repeat  this  instead  of  the  jumbled  nonsense,  and  by 
repeating  softly  and  steadily  it  will  concentrate,  or  become 
like  the  perfectly  balanced  spinning  of  a  top;  and  so  it  is  possi- 
ble to  leave  it  spinning  and  devote  yourself  to  the  realisation  in 
feeling  of  the  presence  of  God  within. 

This  you  may  have  to  practise  for  many  days  before  the 
habit  of  quietness  and  concentration  and  intelligent  Listening 
is  acquired  to  any  extent.  Do  not  always  say  the  same  sen- 
tence unless  it  specially  helps  you.  The  more  intimate  and 
beautiful  the  idea  expressed  in  your  words,  the  more  likely 
you  are  to  realise  intimate  consciousness  of  the  presence  of 
God ;  and  when  any  intimacy  begins  to  come,  there  is  less  need 
of  artificial  methods  of  concentration  or  of  spoken  words. 
Where  we  love,  there  the  mind  centres  itself  naturally.  Love 
is  the  closest  bond  between  mind  and  mind,  and  it  is  essentially 
personal.  Even  to  say  the  word  "  Thou  "  to  the  Almighty 
God  with  a  great  consciousness  of  the  personal  relationship, 
may  provoke  a  tremendous  thrill  of  feeling.  Simple  words 
spoken  by  a  lover  mean  great  things,  and  so  simple  a  contact 
as  the  touch  of  hands  is  sometimes  fraught  with  a  marvellous 
vitalising  power. 

Health. —  This  contact  with  Divine  life  is  the  first  step  to- 
wards holiness.  "  Holiness "  means  exactly  the  same  as 
"Wholeness"  or  "Health";  that  is  to  say,  completeness. 
This  will  cover  a  character  and  powers  that  can  adapt  them- 
selves to  all  circumstances  and  always  will  the  right  thing  at  the 


NEW  THOUGHT  335 

right  time.  It  includes  bodily  health.  Health  is  the  realisation 
of  Life  within  ourselves  at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  When 
we  recover  from  a  sickness,  it  is  not  because  something  is  put 
into  us  from  outside;  but  because  conditions  have  been  provided 
to  offer  no  hindrance  to  the  natural  power  of  life  within  the 
patient.  Every  kind  of  wrong  thought  —  fear,  anger,  worry, 
hatred  —  all  these  constitute  the  gravest  hindrances  to  the 
work  of  Life  in  the  body.  Union  with  the  Mind  of  God  will 
gradually  remove  all  these  from  your  life,  and  you  will  drink 
instead  of  the  true  "  Water  of  Life."  Do  not  hold  the  mis- 
taken idea  that  God  ever  wishes  you  to  be  ill.  Christ  never 
wished  any  one  to  be  ill,  and  never  said  it  was  good  for  people. 
He  healed  them  all  when  they  came  to  Him.  Illness  is  an 
indication  that  something  is  wrong  in  your  relationships  with 
God  and  man.  Come  at  once  to  God  to  be  cured ;  and  also, 
be  reconciled  to  your  neighbour.  The  treatment  of  a  doctor 
may  help  you  to  get  rid  of  poisons  in  the  system  which  your 
wrong  thoughts  and  feelings  have  caused,  and  he  may  tell  you 
how  to  get  into  line  with  secondary  laws  of  nature  also. 

Comfort. —  \\'hen  you  pray,  try  to  make  the  body  comfort- 
able. There  is  no  virtue  in  discomfort.  Your  visitors  do  not 
like  to  see  you  standing  up  or  sitting  in  an  uncomfortable 
position  when  they  are  talking  to  you.  Aching  limbs  and  the 
necessity  for  balancing  oneself  upright  are  very  distracting, 
and  you  want  to  give  your  whole  attention  to  God,  not  to  your 
body.  It  will  be  well,  however,  to  keep  the  back  straight  while 
praying,  whether  you  stand  or  kneel ;  but  have  something  on 
which  you  can  rest  and  relax  the  muscles.  Bodily  strain  means 
mental  strain. 

Penitence. —  If  there  are  sins  of  self-will  in  your  life —  for 
all  sin  is  self-will  —  these  must  be  thrown  down  before  God, 
great  or  small,  and  your  whole  will  offered  to  Him.  Some- 
times we  are  ashamed  to  confess  the  same  sin  again  and  again; 
but  it  must  be  done,  or  you  cannot  pray.  Do  not,  however, 
rake  about  in  your  mind  to  discover  all  the  sins  you  can.  This 
is  like  knocking  dead  leaves  off  a  tree  with  a  pole.  When  the 
new  sap  flows  through  the  tree,  the  dead  leaves  will  drop  off 
of  their  own  accord.  And  w'hen  once  the  mind  and  will  have 
been  set  towards  God.  all  sins  and  hindrances  must  be  forgot- 
ten. The  Christian  teaching  of  forgiveness  insists  upon  the 
fact  that  when  God  forgives  sin  it  is  forgiven  completely,  and 
the  burden  entirely  removed  from  the  sinner — "Thou  shalt 
wash  me  and  I   shall  be  whiter  than  snow."     There  is  no 


336  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

damage  God  cannot  repair;  no  mistake  He  cannot  correct  for 
us. 

Confession  and  Absolution. —  But  when  the  characters  of 
other  people  have  been  harmed  by  our  sin,  it  is  for  us  to  try  to 
correct  the  error  also ;  for  God  cannot  alter  anybody's  character 
except  with  the  consent  of  the  person  concerned.  Our  peni- 
tence may  put  ourselves  right,  but  it  will  not  help  the  other. 
His  door  may  have  become  closed  through  our  fault;  and  if  we 
have  helped  to  close  it,  we  must  also  help  to  reopen  it.  These 
are  the  faults  that  we  must  confess  one  to  the  other,  for  it  is  no 
use  simply  to  confess  them  to  God  and  yet  show  no  penitence 
towards  those  whom  we  have  injured. 

Will-Power. —  The  simple  yielding  of  the  will  to  God,  and 
endeavouring  to  heal  defective  relationships,  is  the  first  step  on 
the  path  to  eternal  life  and  health  both  of  body  and  soul. 
There  is  Give  and  Take  in  this,  for  you  can  give  God  no  greater 
gift  than  your  own  will.  It  is  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world 
to  give  up,  even  for  a  short  time;  but  the  gifts  which  God  gives 
when  He  takes  your  will  are  infinitely  greater  than  anything 
you  could  have  seized  and  kept  by  the  power  of  your  will.  And 
yet  men  do  much  by  will-power;  you  can  often  command  riches, 
position,  and  many  such  things  by  the  exercise  of  strong  self- 
will.  In  the  story  of  the  Temptation,  Christ  refused  "  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them  "  because  He 
would  not  worship  self-will.  He  knew  that  a  kingdom  greater 
than  all  these  would  come  by  the  offering  of  the  human  will  to 
God  —  "  Thy  kingdom  come;  thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is 
in  heaven  " —  the  Kingdom  of  Give  and  Take,  not  of  seize  and 
hold. 

The  Good  Things  of  Life. —  Does  God,  then,  not  wish  us  to 
have  riches  or  position  or  other  "  good  things  "  of  life? 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  any  such  thing.  The  wise 
man  automatically  rises  to  a  position  from  which  he  directs 
those  who  are  less  wise.  Riches  may  come  as  the  natural  con- 
sequence of  honest  labour  and  fair  dealing.  Indeed,  it  should 
be  so.  We  would  sooner  employ  the  good  workman  than  the 
muddler ;  deal  with  the  honest  man  rather  than  with  the  cheat ; 
be  guided  by  the  wise  man  in  preference  to  the  fool.  Riches 
and  position  are  only  a  curse  when  accumulated  by  force  and 
dishonesty;  when  they  are  hoarded  instead  of  used;  when  we 
make  them  our  object  in  life  and  set  our  affections  upon  them. 
Our  aim  should  be  rather  at  character  —  personal  qualities  that 
endure ;  to  use  our  pow?r§  fin4  what  position  or  property  may 


NEW  THOUGHT  337 

come  to  us  in  the  service  of  others,  and  not  for  selfish  enjoy- 
ment only.  There  is  no  virtue  in  want  or  hunger,  or  in  living 
from  hand  to  mouth.  Our  heavenly  Father,  said  Christ,  knows 
that  we  have  need  of  food  and  clothing,  and  if  we  seek  right 
principles  first,  we  become  honest  labourers  and  fair  dealers 
and  wise  counsellors  of  our  fellows:  surely,  then,  there  is 
every  reason  to  expect  that  we  shall  prosper  in  earthly  affairs  as 
the  natural  consequence.^^ 

Renunciation. —  Only,  there  is  much  work  yet  to  be  done  in 
the  regeneration  of  the  world,  and  many  people  feel  that  they 
can  best  help  their  fellows  by  giving  up  property  or  position  in 
order  to  undertake  other  kinds  of  work  on  their  behalf.  It  is 
for  each  one  to  judge  how  far  this  is  wise;  but  it  is  perfectly 
evident  that  if  all  people  were  honest  labourers  and  fair  dealers 
and  wise  doers,  there  would  be  no  need  of  such  renunciations; 
and  we  cannot  suppose  that  God  would  not  wish  the  world  to 
be  in  this  happy  state.  There  is  certainly  a  special  joy  which 
compensates  for  useful  renunciations ;  but  it  would  clearly  not 
be  good  sense  to  starve  or  ruin  oneself,  and  so  become  a  burden 
to  others  instead  of  helping  them,  through  the  suicidal  act  of 
Give-all  and  Take-nothing.  Even  Christ  during  His  great  mis- 
sionary work,  although  He  gave  healing  and  help  and  wise 
counsel  freely  to  all,  took  from  the  bounty  of  His  friends.  He 
also  told  His  disciples  to  do  the  same,  when  He  sent  them  out 
to  preach  and  heal  and  raise  the  dead.  He  knew  that  Love  was 
a  system  of  Take  as  well  as  Give.  Love  is  a  magnet,  and  a 
magnet  must  have  both  positive  and  negative  poles,  or  it  can 
draw  nothing  to  itself.  People  may  easily  be  spoiled  by  giving 
to  them  and  allowing  them  to  give  nothing  in  return :  only,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  exchange  must  be  of  different  things.  HI 
give  you  a  sovereign  and  you  give  me  a  sovereign,  we  might 
just  as  well  have  done  nothing  at  all.  But  Love  may  be  met 
by  love,  for  the  Give  on  each  side  joins  on  to  the  Take  on  the 
other.  And  if  there  be  no  Good  to  take.  Love  must  take  Evil, 
even  to  the  extent  of  crucifixion. 

Suffering. —  We  may  have  to  suffer  through  the  wrong- 
doing of  others;  but  to  treat  them  in  similar  fashion  is  no  sort 
of  legitimate  antidote.  The  cure  for  wrong-doing  is  always 
right-doing  and  nothing  else.  If  an  evil-minded  person  does 
damage,  it  is  our  business  to  repair  the  damage,  rather  than  to 
do  a  similar  amount  of  harm  in  some  other  direction  to  try  to 
make  things  "  square." 

13  Matt.  vi.  32-33. 


338  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

It  is  only  by  thus  ranging  ourselves  on  the  side  of  Divine 
law  that  any  real  progress  can  be  made.  The  abundance  of  the 
one  must  supply  the  lack  of  the  other.  Each  has  some  gift  to 
give  in  mutual  service.  Slave-driving  is  the  curse  of  our  social 
life  to-day :  the  attempted  tyranny  of  husband  over  wife,  parent 
over  child,  employer  over  employee,  and  vice  versa.  These 
teach  us  by  contrast  daily  lessons  of  Divine  truth. 

Harmony  Essential  to  Prayer. —  This  may  seem  removed 
from  the  subject  of  Prayer,  but  really  it  is  not  so;  for  wrong 
social  relationships  hinder  effective  prayer  more  readily  than 
anything  else.  "  When  ye  stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have 
aught  against  any."  ^^  No  gift  may  be  worthily  offered  on 
God's  altar  unless  we  are  reconciled  to  our  brother.^^  It  is 
impossible  to  love  God  and  erect  barriers  between  ourselves  and 
our  fellows  at  the  same  time ;  for  God  is  in  them  as  well  as  in 
us,  and  we  must  contact  God  everywhere;  for  if  we  only  find 
Him  in  ourselves,  we  are  simply  self -worshippers. 

Healing  Prayer. —  If  this  spirit  of  harmony  pervades  our 
prayer,  we  shall  realise  a  great  sense  of  expansion  or  growth. 
God  will  seem  to  be  not  only  within  us,  but  all  around  us,  as  an 
infinite  ocean  of  light  and  life  and  love  in  which  we  become 
absorbed.  A  beautiful  health-giving  thrill  may  come;  and  if  in 
the  midst  of  this  absorption  we  picture  any  of  our  friends  or 
fellows  whom  we  desire  to  help  or  heal,  or  if  we  perhaps  speak 
their  names  to  God,  a  sense  of  union  with  them  will  be  very  ap- 
parent to  us,  and  perhaps  a  healing  virtue  may  pass  through  us 
into  them.  Only  we  must  picture  them  in  the  state  in  which  we 
wish  them  to  be  —  perfected  and  happy,  not  diseased  or  suffer- 
ing. That  this  kind  of  prayer  both  helps  and  heals,  many  can 
testify.  There  is  nothing  more  wonderful  in  such  transmission 
of  power  than  we  see  in  the  marvel  of  wireless  telegraphy. 
Healing  by  the  laying-on  of  hands  perhaps  corresponds  more  to 
telegraphy  with  wires. 

Corporate  Prayer. —  Such  a  harmony  when  established  by  a 
number  of  people  may  become  a  means  of  transmitting  tre- 
mendous power  in  any  desired  direction.  But  Christ  laid  down 
an  important  rule  for  keeping  the  law  of  corporate  prayer  — 
namely,  the  necessity  for  agreement.  "If  two  of  you  shall 
agree  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be 
done."  ^^  This  also  implies  that,  if  two  people  pray  —  honestly 
—  for  opposite  results,  they  will  neutralise  one  another.     This 

14  Mark  xi.   25.  16  Matt,  xviii.  19. 

15  Matt.  V.  23,  24. 


NEW  THOUGHT  339 

is  simple  mathematics.  Plus  and  minus  are  both  legitimate 
symbols,  but  plus  two  minus  two  equals  zero. 

We  do  not  always  realise  that  we  really  get  from  God  just 
what  we  ask  —  even  zero  —  because  we  do  not  incjuire  care- 
fully enough  into  the  manner  of  our  asking,  and  to  what  our 
requests  really  amount.  A  formula  of  words  counts  for  noth- 
ing: the  honest  desire  of  our  hearts  is  the  thing  that  matters. 
But  in  expecting  the  answer  we  must  take  into  account  such 
things  as  the  strength  or  feebleness  of  our  desire,  and  the  length 
of  time  we  maintain  it,  against  the  force  of  past  habit  and  the 
powers  of  unsympathetic  or  directly  antagonistic  thought- 
forces  set  in  motion  by  other  people,  or  by  ourselves  at  other 
times.  For  though  God's  power  is  able  to  transform  all  things, 
we  must  never  forget  that  the  conditions  of  its  working  are  all 
made  by  ourselves. 

"  Failure  "  of  Prayer. —  For  example,  it  is  folly  to  pray 
for  peace  when  all  our  energies  are  bent  on  war.  What  you 
are  praying  for  in  reality  is  war  —  at  any  rate,  all  the  time  you 
go  on  fighting  or  assisting  others  to  fight,  x^nd  so  you  get  war. 
Any  time  you  choose  to  stop  fighting  you  can  have  peace.  Or 
if  you  pray  for  five  minutes  that  God  will  guide  your  life,  and 
then  for  twelve  hours  go  about  your  business  or  pleasure  with- 
out consulting  Him  further,  the  twelve  hours'  attitude  of  mind 
makes  the  most  powerful  prayer  that  God  will  let  you  alone. 
And  so  He  must  do,  for  He  cannot  come  in  when  the  door  is 
shut. 

All  conflict  in  the  world  is  really  between  thought-forces; 
whatever  takes  place  in  the  physical  world  is  merely  the  out- 
ward expression  of  thoughts.  St.  Paul  realised  this  w-hen  he 
said :  *'  We  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness 
of  this  world,  against  spiritual  w'ickedness  in  high  places."  ^^ 

Imaging. —  The  \vorld  is  ruled  by  the  unseen  powers  of  rnind 
which  underlie  eveny^thing;  therefore  our  weapons  and  shields 
must  be  Thoughts  also.  We  see  therefore  the  great  force  of 
another  of  Christ's  law-s  of  prayer  —  that  we  must  hold 
strongly  to  any  idea  which  we  wish  to  see  realised.  "  What 
things  soever  ye  desire,  when  ye  pray  believe  that  ye  receive 
them,  and  ve  shall  have  them."  ^^ 

Any  one  who  has  studied  Nature  knows  the  phenomenon  of 
atrophy.  If  a  creature  neglects  to  use  any  particular  organ  of 
its  body,  or  has  no  use  for  it,  that  organ  disappears  in  process 

IT  Eph.  vi.   12.  18  Mark  xi.   24. 


340  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  time.  Pit-ponies  and  deep-sea  fish  become  blind,  for  ex- 
ample. The  penguin's  wings  from  use  in  swimming  have  de- 
generated into  flappers  with  which  he  could  not  possibly  fly, 
although  he  is  really  a  bird.  So  any  unused  faculty  disappears. 
Now,  every  law  works  both  ways ;  and  if  absence  of  need  causes 
a  power  or  an  organ  to  disappear,  prolonged  or  powerful  need 
will  cause  such  power  or  organ  to  appear.  Evolution  certainly 
bears  this  out:  it  has  been  one  long  history  of  the  slow  uncon- 
scious prayers  of  Nature  exactly  fulfilled  by  the  Father  of  All; 
and  this  surely  is  the  great  law  for  us  to  grasp.  What  you 
really  ask  for  you  get  with  mathematical  certainty  —  not  a 
serpent  for  a  fish,  a  stone  for  bread,  a  scorpion  for  an  egg. 
But  so  many  of  us  are  really  asking  for  the  wrong  things  all 
the  time  —  and,  of  course,  getting  them :  for  how  else  can  we 
be  taught  our  lesson  ? 

We  might  remember  here,  however,  that  all  things  are  good 
when  rightly  used  and  kept  in  their  proper  places.  Everything 
which  God  gives  is  good;  but  we  mis-handle  what  He  gives 
and  use  it  for  selfish  ends. 

Personal  Perfection. —  But  supposing  we  wish  to  rise  to  per- 
sonal perfection.  Must  we  go  about  all  day  praying  and  think- 
ing hard  of  all  sorts  of  Divine  powers  and  attributes? 
Surely  hard  thinking  causes  headache  and  nerve-strain,  besides 
interfering  with  our  business. 

Yes.  A  minutely  detailed  prayer  for  this  and  that,  to  be 
offered  up  all  day,  would  be  most  laborious  and  difficult.  But 
there  is  another  condition  of  eternal  life  besides  the  knowing 
of  the  True  God;  and  that  is,  to  know  Jesus  Christ  Whom  He 
has  sent.  And  we  have  discovered  something  of  what  is  in- 
volved in  "  knowing."  It  is  intimate  converse  with  the  one 
whom  we  desire  to  know. 

What  does  your  mind  do  all  day? 

The  Sub-Consciousness. —  It  talks  to  you.  There  is  a  kind 
of  conversation  with  yourself  going  on  all  day  in  your  mind. 
Is  not  this  so?     One  part  of  your  mind  —  the  self-conscious 

—  is  continually  talking  to  and  consulting  with  another  part, 
the  sub-consciousness.  What  is  this  sub-consciousness  ?  It  is 
a  part  of  your  mind,  a  sort  of  second  self,  wherein  are  stored 
all  the  habits  you  have  made  during  your  life,  and  all  those 
which  your  forefathers  have  handed  down  to  you  by  heredity 

—  some  of  them  so  old  that  they  have  come  right  down  all 
through  creation  from  the  beginning  of  time.  The  sub-con- 
sciousness contains  the  record  of  all  the  impressions  you  have 


NEW  THOUGHT  341 

ever  received,  and  all  the  thoughts  you  have  ever  thought,  good 
or  bad,  true  or  false.  Habits  are  really  thoughts  that  have  per- 
sisted for  a  long  time,  and  are  mind- forces  that  go  on  working 
by  their  own  momentum,  or  as  long  as  we  keep  on  whipping 
them  up  by  obeying  their  impulses  and  doing  the  same  things. 
Thus  it  is  that  character  gets  settled,  and  there  it  is  that  charac- 
ter must  be  altered. 

When  you  talk  to  yourself,  or  think  to  yourself,  you  are  con- 
sulting with  all  your  past  experiences  and  old  habits;  and  the 
sub-consciousness  advises  you  just  as  a  separate  person  would 
do  who  had  had  such  experiences  and  formed  such  habits. 
Now  it  is  quite  easy  to  see  that  this  old  self  of  yours  will  often 
give  you  bad  advice  and  deceive  you  in  all  sorts  of  ways ;  for 
it  is  no  wiser  than  yourself  —  simply  because  it  is  yourself. 
But  supposing  you  cease  to  consult  with  it  any  longer,  and  begin 
instead  to  talk  or  think  to  a  Perfect  Man  within  yourself :  talk 
right  through  your  old  self,  through  the  doorway  right  into  the 
Mind  of  God.     You  will  surely  get  better  advice  from  Him. 

Yes,  if  you  could  do  this,  it  would  solve  your  difficulty. 
But  God  the  Father,  the  Universal  Mind,  is  infinitely  greater 
than  anything  you  can  imagine  or  picture  to  yourself.  We  are 
all  contained  in  Him :  everything  is  contained  in  Him.  Is  it 
not  foolish  to  suppose  that  we  can  carry  Him  about  with  us 
and  talk  to  Him?  Perhaps  in  one  sense  it  is.  When  men 
have  been  able  to  form  any  idea  of  the  greatness  of  God,  it 
has  often  filled  them  with  a  kind  of  despair  of  knowing  Him. 
Astronomy  has  taught  us  things  about  the  size  of  the  universe 
and  the  distance  between  the  stars  which  make  us  feel  im- 
measurably small  and  feeble  beside  the  Infinite  Power  which 
upholds  all  this  vastness  and  contains  it. 

But  we  know  that  the  Mind  of  God  the  Father  is  perfectly 
imaged  in  God  the  Son.  There  is  a  spirit  of  Perfect  Man 
which  God  can  breathe  into  us.  He  has  shown  It  to  us  as  an 
outside  reality ;  He  can  also  breathe  It  into  us  as  an  inward 
reality. 

The  Christian  Creeds  teach  us  that  beside  the  Father  and  the 
Son  in  the  perfect  Trinity,  there  is  also  the  Holy  Spirit  which 
passes  from  one  to  the  other  and  links  them  together.  This 
Holv  Spirit  is  the  giver  of  life.  Now  that  which  passes  from 
mind  to  mind  and  links  them  together  is  Thought,  or  Thought 
and  Feeling,  given  and  received.  All  life  depends  upon 
Thought.  Without  the  power  to  think  and  feel,  there  could  be 
no  life.     W^  h^ve  seen  that  "Holy"  means  "Whole"  or 


342  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

"  Perfect."  The  "  Holy "  Spirit  is  therefore  only  known 
when  the  doors  of  the  Mind  are  fully  open,  and  perfect  thought 
and  feeling  flow  from  mind  to  mind.  Now  Christ  was  always 
promising  to  His  disciples  and  followers  that  He  would  come 
again  to  them  by  means  of  this  spiritual  thought-connection, 
and  thereby  link  them  to  the  Father.  H  they  could  form  a 
perfect  contact  with  Him,  He  could  form  a  perfect  contact  with 
the  Father,  and  so  secure  this  inflow  of  Divine  power.  We 
keep  alive  this  idea  by  saying  at  the  end  of  our  prayers 
"  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  though  it  is  usually  only  an 
empty  formula  to  us  to-day.  Let  us  try  to  make  it  something 
more. 

The  Indwelling  Christ. —  Begin  to  think  of  this  perfect  Man, 
this  .Son  of  God,  as  being  within  you  in  place  of  your  old  sub- 
conscious self.  Your  sub-consciousness  is  real  enough;  but  so 
too  is  this  spirit  of  Perfect  Man  —  absolutely  real.  He  is  not, 
however,  of  your  own  making,  but  straight  from  God  the 
Father.  Talk  to  Him  —  think  to  Him  instead  of  to  your  old 
self,  and  He  will  gradually  fill  you  with  all  sorts  of  new 
thoughts,  visions,  wisdom  and  understanding,  powers  and 
habits :  as  your  old  self  drops  away  and  vanishes,  a  new  man 
will  be  built  up  within  you  and  a  new  heaven  and  new  earth 
will  appear;  for  you  will  see  with  His  eyes  and  find  God  in  all 
things. 

And  the  way  to  begin  this  imaging  of  the  Perfect  Man  within 
is  to  picture  Him  as  the  Christ  of  the  gospels,  with  all  the 
powers  which  He  had  both  before  and  after  His  resurrection. 
Read  about  Him;  study  His  character;  see  how  He  acted  to- 
wards the  people  among  whom  He  moved;  realise  that  He  is 
the  same  yesterday  and  to-day  and  for  ever  —  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life.  Then,  although  you  will  not  know  all 
about  Him,  at  least  what  you  know  will  be  true ;  and  by  holding 
to  this  picture  of  Him  as  your  new  self,  it  will  be  possible  for 
God  the  Father  to  breathe  into  you  the  real  presence  of  the 
Son,  Who  will  then  teach  you  more  and  more  of  Himself  and 
of  the  Father  as  you  come  to  "  know  "  Him.  This  has  been 
the  experience  of  hundreds  of  Christians  all  down  the  years  that 
have  gone  by  since  Christ  walked  the  earth. 

Is  it  all  Self-deception?  —  And  if  some  sceptic  or  scientist 
says  to  you :  "  Yes,  you  can  deceive  yourself  into  thinking  such 
things,  but  it  is  only  imagination ;  "  then  remember  that  imag- 
ination is  the  great  Divine  Reality.     God  the  Father  is  the 


NEW  THOUGHT  343 

Great  Imager  Who  made  man  in  His  image;  ^^  and  from 
Whom  comes  the  Christ,  of  Whom  it  was  said  that  He  was  the 
express  image  of  the  Father's  personahty;  ^^  and  that  Imagina- 
tion has  been  the  one  condition  by  which  every  new  step  in  the 
world's  progress  has  been  made,  and  the  one  power  which  has 
enabled  the  Father  to  express  Himself  through  the  creature  in 
all  manner  of  growth  and  up-building;  for  nothing  exists  that 
was  not  first  of  all  "  only  imagination."  We  might  even  say 
that  there  is  nothing  but  Imagination ;  only  some  of  it  is  feeble 
and  fleeting,  and  some  of  it  is  strong  and  lasting.  Imagination 
can  make  or  unmake  anything.  St.  Paul,  in  a  moment  of  tre- 
mendous realisation  of  this  great  truth,  exclaims  that  God  hath 
chosen  the  things  which  arc  not,  to  bring  to  naught  the  things 
which  are!  -^ 

But  someone  will  say.  How  can  this  one  Christ  be  in  ever  so 
many  different  places  at  once? 

The  Unk'crsal  Christ. —  Think  for  a  moment.  How  big  is 
your  Mind?  It  has  no  size  at  all.  Body  is  the  only  thing  that 
has  size. 

The  number  of  places  which  a  mind  can  reach  is  limited  by 
the  sort  of  body  in  which  mind  dwells.  But  even  this  does  not 
limit  it  anything  like  so  much  as  we  generally  suppose;  for  the 
mind  can  reach  out  beyond  the  body  and  come  into  touch  with 
things  ever  so  far  away.  I  can  talk  to  you  across  a  large  room. 
I  can  shout  to  you  down  the  street.  With  the  telephone  I  can 
talk  to  you  over  a  hundred  miles  of  distance.  With  the  tele- 
graph I  can  talk  to  you  on  the  other  side  of  the  world. -^ 

But  the  powder  of  sight  can  get  further  than  this.  It  can 
reach  the  sun  and  the  stars,  billions  of  miles  away.  But  for 
this  cumbersome  body  I  might  be  able  to  come  into  much  closer 
touch  with  all  sorts  of  distant  things,  ever  so  many  at  once, 
perhaps :  for  even  now  I  can  hear  and  touch  and  feel  and  see  all 
at  once. 

Mind  has  no  size. 

And  w^hen  it  is  a  case  of  mind  coming  into  contact  with  mind, 
we  must  remember  that  one  mind  has  to  give  and  another  re- 
ceive, or  there  can  be  no  connection  betw^een  them.  If  you 
stop  your  ears,  no  shouting  of  mine  will  reach  you.     If  you 

19  Gen.  i.  26,  27. 
20Heb.  i.  3- 

21  1  Cor.  i.  28. 

22  Since  this  was  written  wireless  telephony  enables  us  to  speak  across  the  Atlantic, 
and  curiously  with  greater  distinctness  than  we  can  speak  into  an  adjoining  room. 


344  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

shut  your  eyes  you  will  never  see  the  stars.  But  wherever  a 
door  is  set  open  it  is  possible  to  enter. 

If  Christ  had  stayed  in  His  earthly  body,  and  developed  His 
powers  no  further  than  we  have  done,  His  ability  to  reach  and 
help  other  people  would  have  remained  no  greater  than  that  of 
any  ordinary  man.  But,  as  He  said,  it  was  expedient  for  Him 
to  go  away  —  to  give  up  the  limited  existence  in  an  ordinary 
earthly  body  so  that  He  might  be  able  to  come  into  touch  with 
everybody  who  wanted  Him  and  would  open  the  door  of  the 
mind  to  receive  His  help  and  advice.  Is  this  so  very  wonderful 
or  hard  to  believe  ? 

Mind  has  no  size.  It  can  reach  out  and  come  into  communi- 
cation with  anything,  unless  a  barrier  has  been  erected  by  it  or 
against  it. 

Request. —  But  the  kind  of  prayer  that  we  have  been  chiefly 
considering  has  been  the  prayer  of  Contemplating,  or  remaining 
silent  and  receptive  in  the  Presence  of  God.  This  is  one  of 
the  highest  and  most  beautiful  kinds  of  prayer;  but  because  it 
means  great  stillness  in  your  own  mind  you  cannot  always  be 
thus  engaged.  There  is  also  an  active  kind  of  prayer  which  is 
necessary  as  you  go  about  your  work,  when  the  mind  has  to  be 
busy  with  the  outside  things  instead  of  the  inside;  and  this 
prayer  must  take  the  form  of  request  and  thanksgiving.  Re- 
quest, because  you  must  continually  make  demands  upon  the 
power  within  to  do  your  work  ;  and  thanksgiving,  because  when 
you  Take,  you  must  also  Give,  or  exhaustion  will  result. 
Everything  moves  in  a  circle;  it  is  always  Please  and  Thank 
You;  and  neither  half  of  the  circle  is  complete  without  the 
other.  Electricity  and  other  sciences  all  teach  us  the  same 
thing.  And  it  must  be  Please  and  Thank  You  all  day  to  the 
new  Perfect  Man  Who  is  dwelling  within  you. 

Prayer  for  Others. —  But  your  requests  must  not  always  be 
for  yourself.     You  can  help  others  by  prayer. 

Does  this  mean  that  God  will  not  help  them  unless  you  ask 
Him  to  do  so  ? 

Not  at  all.  God  has  already  given  them  as  much  as  He 
could.  Wherever  they  opened  a  door,  there  He  came  in. 
Where  they  shut  a  door,  there  He  had  to  remain  outside.  If 
it  were  not  so,  God  would  long  since  have  made  everybody  good 
and  put  an  end  to  all  our  troubles. 

But,  as  it  is,  God  can  only  act  upon  us  through  our  own 
minds.  He  must  always  have  an  agent  who  will  open  a  door; 
for  thus  He  made  us.     So  if  He  cannot  reach  a  man  who  has 


NEW  THOUGHT  345 

closed  his  door,  yet  at  least  He  may  be  able  to  reach  him 
through  somelx)dy  else's  door.  If  Jones  is  a  man  who  has 
kept  God  out  of  his  life  so  far  as  possible,  yet  Jones  cannot 
keep  Smith  out  of  his  life  too;  for  Jones  and  Smith  are  always 
knocking  up  against  one  another  and  opening  their  minds  one 
to  another  in  speech  or  feeling.  So  if  Jones  has  his  door  open 
towards  Smith,  and  Smith  has  his  door  open  towards  Jones  and 
also  towards  God,  the  way  of  help  is  cleared  at  once.  To  love 
anybody  connects  your  mind  with  his  to  some  extent.  If  he 
loves  you  too,  even  ever  such  a  little,  the  connection  becomes 
greatly  strengthened,  and  your  prayers  are  much  better  able  to 
help  him.  But  you  cannot  pray  effectively  for  anybody  at  all, 
unless  your  mind  has  first  gone  out  towards  him  in  love,  and 
unless  the  door  of  your  heart  is  fully  open  to  God.  But  when 
this  is  done,  the  great  law  of  intercessory  prayer  can  be  put 
into  operation. 

IV hat  to  Prav  for. —  But  what  sort  of  requests  shall  we 
make  for  ourselves  and  for  others  ? 

Chiefly,  we  should  pray  for  the  spirit  of  Love,  for  this  is  the 
key  to  all  things;  and  the  way  to  pray  for  this,  or  for  any 
other  quality,  is  to  picture  to  yourself  as  clearly  as  possible  the 
thing  you  want  as  if  it  were  already  realised.  In  praying  for 
Jones,  Smith  should  try  to  picture  Jones  with  the  beauty  of 
character  which  we  know  Christ  to  have  manifested.  If  Jones 
is  sick.  Smith  should  picture  Jones  with  a  body  made  perfect 
by  the  power  of  God ;  and  the  longer  he  can  hold  to  such  a  pic- 
ture and  at  the  same  time  feel  the  presence  of  God  wrapping 
himself  and  Jones  around  and  filling  them  both,  the  greater 
good  he  is  likely  to  do.  Jones  need  not  be  anywhere  near  at 
the  time ;  for  the  Mind  of  God  is  everywhere  and  bridges  all 
gaps.  The  minds  of  men  too  are  all  linked  together  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  just  as  the  laws  of  physics  show  us  that  all 
bodies  are  linked  together,  and  the  movement  of  any  one  afifects 
all.  Every  thought  of  yours  is  a  power  sent  out  into  the  world 
and  helps  to  change  it  for  better  or  worse.  Think  what  a 
responsibility  this  means.  It  affects  your  own  health  and  helps 
to  build  or  destroy  your  body;  and  it  also  helps  to  build  or 
destroy  the  health  of  others  —  of  those  in  your  home  and 
family,  your  circle  of  friends,  your  business  environment,  your 
town  or  country,  your  empire.  Shall  we  not  see  to  it  that  our 
thoughts,  our  imaginings,  our  prayers,  are  such  as  will  build, 
and  heal,  and  keep  "  holy  "  or  healthy? 

And  what  else  may  we  pray  for  ? 


346  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Wisdom,  certainly.  And  one  of  the  first  things  God  will 
teach  us  is  that  Love  is  always  the  highest  wisdom.  Always 
you  will  get  the  best  result  from  anybody  by  love.  Will  can- 
not be  driven;  it  must  be  led;  and  you  cannot  lead  except  by 
power  of  attraction.  The  best  general,  the  best  schoolmaster, 
the  best  employer,  is  he  who  has  won  the  hearts  of  those  under 
him,  so  that  they  obey  him  willingly  and  not  of  compulsion. 
Compulsion  is  the  starting-point  of  mutiny  and  revolution;  if 
you  squeeze  an  object  in  one  place  it  is  bound  to  bulge  in  an- 
other. So  it  is  with  people.  Again  and  again  history  has 
taught  us  this.     God  has  been  teaching  us  this  all  the  time. 

Health  of  course  we  may  pray  for.  Plealing  formed  a  great 
part  of  Christ's  work,  and  was  given  as  a  special  mission  to  all 
His  followers.  God  can  use  any  of  us  as  healers  if  we  will  let 
Him;  and  we  have  seen  how  this  is  to  be  done.  If  you  pray 
for  health  in  yourself  when  you  are  already  suffering  from 
sickness,  it  should  take  the  form  of  complete  self-offering  to  the 
power  of  Divine  life  within.  The  body  must  be  completely  re- 
laxed and  the  mind  made  as  restful  as  possible.  H  your  illness 
is  chronic,  you  may  have  to  do  this  many  times ;  for  a  chronic 
illness  is  after  all  a  habit;  it  is  a  state  of  being  to  which  you 
have  grown  accustomed,  and  by  merely  being  used  to  it  you 
are  suffering  it  to  remain  with  you.  Fix  your  mind  and  your 
prayers  strongly  on  the  state  of  health,  and  then  God  will  be 
able  to  realise  it  in  you  :  otherwise  your  ordinary  frame  of  mind 
will  keep  the  door  shut  more  often  than  you  open  it. 

But  may  you  not  pray  for  objects?  For  money,  food,  and 
so  on? 

Well,  if  you  have  Love  and  Wisdom  and  Health  there  should 
be  scarcely  need  for  this ;  for  you  will  be  so  well  fitted  for  what- 
ever work  you  undertake  that  you  should  never  fall  on  evil 
days.  Our  Lord  promised  quite  definitely  that  if  we  sought 
first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  the  ordinary 
necessaries  of  life  should  be  "  added  unto  us,"  and  this  is  quite 
evidently  what  He  meant.  One  of  the  Psalmists  has  said :  "  I 
have  been  young  and  now  am  old ;  and  yet  saw  I  never  the 
righteous  forsaken  nor  his  seed  begging  their  bread."  Some 
good  people  think  they  ought  to  be  in  want,  or  sick,  or  gloomy, 
before  they  can  do  anything  to  please  God ;  but  a  little  study  of 
the  life  of  Christ  shows  that  He  did  all  He  could  to  supply 
people's  needs  and  make  them  healthy  and  happy.  He  Him- 
self suffered  from  the  unkindness  of  others,  it  is  true;  but  if 
He  had  been  sick  or  gloomy  He  could  not  have  done  the  work 


NEW  THOUGHT  347 

He  did  nor  attracted  children  and  poor  people  to  Himself. 
Children  always  keep  away  from  gloomy  grown-ups,  and  no- 
body has  much  use  for  them. 

And  how  are  we  to  pray  in  time  of  national  disaster  —  in 
time  of  war? 

This  is  a  very  vexed  question,  and  people  are  divided  into 
two  camps  about  it.  Let  us  try  to  consider  it  in  the  light  of 
what  we  have  been  thinking  about  prayer  generally. 

First,  we  can  certainly  pray  for  strength,  endurance,  wisdom, 
love,  and  the  spirit  of  service,  and  be  sure  that  God  is  willing 
to  grant  them  all.  We  may  pray  too  for  health  and  recovery 
for  the  sick  and  wounded,  spiritual  consolation  for  those  in 
anxiety,  prisoners  of  war,  etc. 

But  against  this  we  must  set  some  other  points.  We  cannot 
pray  quite  rationally  that  "  God  will  in  His  own  good  time 
grant  us  peace,"  because,  as  we  have  seen.  God  cannot  force 
us  to  peace  so  long  as  we  go  on  fighting.  When  we  stop  fight- 
ing, we  shall  have  peace,  without  any  miraculous  Divine  inter- 
vention. How  else  can  war  stop  ?  Do  we  expect  God  forcibly 
to  remove  our  weapons,  destroy  our  navies  and  armies,  swal- 
low up  our  munition  factories  with  earthquakes?  Or  do  we 
want  Him  simply  to  annihilate  or  incapacitate  our  enemies? 
Among  them  are  wheat  and  tares ;  but  so  there  are  among  us 
also.  \\'hat  would  we  have  Him  do?  li  we  want  Him  to 
change  their  hearts  and  take  from  them  the  spirit  of  war,  we 
have  seen  wdiat  is  the  only  possible  chance  of  this  happening. 
We  must  open  the  door  of  our  minds  towards  God  on  one  side, 
and  towards  our  enemies  on  the  other.  "  Love  your  enemies ; 
do  good  to  them  that  hate  you ;  bless  them  that  curse  you,  and 
pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you."  ^^ 

It  will  perhaps  be  a  long  time  before  the  world  is  convinced 
of  the  scientific  soundness  of  this  advice,  but  some  day  we 
shall  see  it.  and  later  on  apply  it.  But  that  will  not  be  in 
"  God's  good  time."  but  as  soon  as  we  choose.  "  God's  good 
time"  is  always  NOW.  li  we  had  practised  this  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  no  war  would  have  been  devastating  Europe  to-day. 
If  we  all  practised  it  from  to-day,  there  would  never  be  another 
war. 

Prayer  for  Combatants. —  But  if  we  still  believe  that  God 
has  a  use  for  methods  of  violence  and  destruction  and  that  we 
may  legitimately  meet  evil  with  evil,  how  are  we  to  pray  for 
our  dear  ones  who  are  giving  their  lives  in  this  way  in  an 

23  Luke  vj.  27,  28. 


348  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

honest  desire  to  serve  the  cause  of  justice  and  honour?  We 
may  still  try  to  picture  them  surrounded  by  God's  love  and 
wisdom ;  we  may  pray  that  they  may  have  strength  and  endur- 
ance and  the  spirit  of  love  and  service,  that  they  may  be  healed 
of  wounds  or  sickness  and  comforted  in  trial  or  danger;  and 
though  we  can  have  no  assurance  that  they  will  escape  the 
violence  of  the  enemy,  yet  we  may  know  that  a  death  died  for 
the  sake  of  others  cannot  but  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  and 
better  life  beyond.^^ 

Conclusion. —  From  the  foregoing  considerations  we  can  see 
without  difficulty  the  power  and  use  of  prayer  to  the  individual, 
in  self-development,  health,  and  the  attainment  of  the  ever  un- 
folding possibilities  of  the  ages  to  come.  "  Eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him."  ^^ 
It  remains  but  for  us  to  apply  these  amazing  Divine  laws  at 
ever  higher  and  higher  levels.  We  have  seen  too  the  value  of 
prayer  in  righting  all  social  relationships  and  in  its  intercessory 
aspect.  If  the  right  kind  of  prayer  could  be  practised  by 
unanimous  bodies  of  people,  families  and  church  congrega- 
tions, there  is  no  doubt  that  great  forces  could  be  liberated  for 
the  harmonising  of  humanity  and  the  direction  of  the  forces  of 
Nature.^'^  Such  corporate  prayer,  too,  would  by  unity  of 
feeling  bind  together  such  families  or  congregations  with  in- 
dissoluble bonds  of  love.  The  great  sacrament  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ  should  take  on  a  new  significance  when  we 
recognise  Divine  Mind  as  the  innermost  and  the  physical  world 
as  the  outermost  planes  of  existence,  with  a  fundamental  unity 
only  waiting  to  be  realised  in  the  whole  body  of  humanity. 

There  is  also  the  symbolic  idea  of  Christ  and  His  Church  as 
husband  and  wife,^^  an  idea  which  is  seen  to  be  something  more 
than  mere  poetry  when  we  observe  the  double  aspect  of  mind 
—  active,  and  passive  or  receptive.  Where  man  takes  the  in- 
itiative of  self-will  and  so  stimulates  the  passive  mind  to  the 
creation  of  false  ideas  and  distorted  images,  we  have  that  state 
of  affairs  pictured  in  Revelation  as  the  Scarlet  Woman,^^  the 
mother  of  all  abominations;  also  symbolised  by  the  ancient 
world-dominating  capitals  of  Babylon  and  Rome  —  domination 
by  force  of  will.  But  in  contrast  to  this  we  have  the  New 
Jerusalem  ^^  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband ;  the  perfect 

24  Matt.  X.  39;  John  xii.  25.  27  Rom.   vii.   4;   Eph.   v.   28-32. 

25  I  Cor.  ii.  9.  28  Rev.  xvii.  1-9. 

26  James  v.   17;  Matt.  8,  27;  Mark  xi.  23.  29  Rev.  xxi.  9,   10. 


NEW  THOUGHT  349 

civilisation  in  which  the  human  mind  receives  its  stimulus  from 
the  Divine  Mind  and  so  bears  the  "  fruit  of  the  Spirit."  "  The 
Jerusalem  that  is  alxjve  is  free,  which  is  the  mother  of  us  all."  ^'^ 
The  Church  or  true  body  of  believers,  acting  thus  under  the 
stimulus  of  Divine  will,  should  become  the  heart  and  brain  of 
the  State,  pulsing  life  and  sending  wisdom  into  every  part;  and 
such  a  State  or  Empire  would  heal  and  strengthen  all  the 
peoples  with  whom  it  should  come  into  contact. 

But  the  present  system  of  Church  prayer  will  quite  obviously 
never  achieve  this.  Set  formulas  must  give  place  to  united 
silent  concentration  wisely  directed  by  some  minister  before 
any  great  results  can  be  looked  for.  Moreover,  the  present 
divided  condition  of  the  Churches  is  a  most  serious  barrier  to 
the  free  passage  of  Divine  power.  We  should  also  avoid 
forms  of  liturgy,  psalms  and  hymns  that  tend  to  perpetuate 
false  ideas  of  God  —  and  there  are  many  of  them. 

But  the  starting-point  of  all  progress  is  with  the  individual, 
and  the  yielding  of  the  will.  And,  recognising  this,  may  we 
not  see  the  greatest  hindrance  of  all  in  that  still  prevalent  and, 
in  some  quarters,  growing  belief  in  the  legitimacy  of  domina- 
tion by  will,  the  use  of  methods  of  violence,  and  the  justice  of 
retaliation,  as  means  of  coercing  the  individual  into  what  any 
other  individual,  or  society,  or  church,  or  state,  or  nation  be- 
lieves to  be  a  right  course  of  action?  Surely  our  motto  should 
be,  "  Lead  by  Love."  The  wise  man  leads.  The  good  shep- 
herd leads.  The  magnet  draws.  The  universe  holds  together 
by  attraction. 

GOD  IS  LOVE. 

80  Gal.  iv.  26. 


XVI 
A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER 

BY 

Dr.  J.  E.  ESSLEMONT 

THE    NEW    SANATORIUM,    BOURNEMOUTH 


XVI 

A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER 

The  Bahai  religion  is  based  on  the  revelation  given  to  the 
world  by  three  inspired  teachers,  all  of  Persian  birth  —  the 
Bab  (i.e.  Gate),  the  Forerunner,  who  proclaimed  his  mission 
in  1844  and  was  martyred  at  Tabriz  in  1850;  Baha'u'llah  (i.e. 
Glory  of  God),  the  Revealer  of  the  Book,  who  proclaimed  him- 
self in  1863  (i.e.  nineteen  years  after  the  Bab's  proclamation), 
and  died  in  the  Holy  Land  in  1892;  and  Abdul  Baha  (i.e. 
Servant  of  the  Glory),  eldest  son  of  Baha'u'llah,  who,  since 
his  father's  death,  has  acted  as  expounder  and  interpreter  of 
his  father's  teachings. 

Baha'u'llah  teaches  that  God  in  His  Essential  Reality  is  un- 
knowable and  unapproachable  by  finite  minds.  "  He  compre- 
hends all;  He  cannot  be  comprehended."  The  first  emanation 
from  God  is  the  "  Word,"  and  through  the  "  Word  "  all  things 
have  been  created.  Through  the  "  Word  "  God  has  created 
man  with  the  capacity  of  knowing  and  loving,  and  at  the  same 
time  given  a  revelation  of  Himself  which  man  can  know  and 
love.  Thus,  although  the  Essential  Reality  of  God  is  unknow- 
able, the  supreme  aim  of  human  life  is  to  know  and  love  the 
manifestation  of  God. 

God  is  manifested  in  some  degree  by  ever^'thing  in  the  uni- 
verse. The  mineral  world  shows  forth  many  of  His  attributes. 
The  plant  world  gives  a  higher  revelation  of  His  creative 
power;  the  animal  world  a  still  higher;  but  the  highest  revela- 
tion comes  through  man,  and  especially  through  certain  men 
who  have  been  chosen  by  God  to  manifest  His  Love  and  Wis- 
dom to  their  fellows.  Thu^  Divine  Revelation  has  in  each  age 
been  adapted  to  the  capacity  of  those  to  whom  it  was  given. 
Each  prophet  has  given  the  highest  teaching  that  could  be 
assimilated  by  the  people  to  whom  he  came.  Each  has  been 
an  "  educator  of  humanity,"  and  has  prepared  men  for  the  re- 
ception of  a  higher  revelation  to  be  given  in  due  time  by  his 
successor. 

Baha'u'llah  teaches  that  we  must  reverence  all  the  Divine 
Teachers  and  gratefully  receive  the  message  of  truth  that  each 

353 


354  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

has  brought.  We  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  so  wrapped 
up  in  devotion  to  any  single  teacher  of  the  past  —  to  Moses,  to 
Buddha,  to  Jesus,  to  Mohammed,  or  any  other  —  as  to  be  blind 
and  deaf  to  God's  other  messengers  to  mankind.  We  must  be 
worshippers  of  the  Light  of  Truth,  from  whatever  lamp  it 
shines,  listeners  to  the  Voice  of  God  through  whatever  mouth 
it  speaks.  Especially  is  it  important  that  we  should  recognise 
and  welcome  the  messengers  whom  God  has  sent  in  our  times, 
to  reveal  His  Will  for  the  age  in  which  we  live,  the  New  Age 
now  dawning  for  mankind. 

Baha'u'Uah  claims  to  be  the  Divine  Messenger,  the  "  Man- 
ifestation of  God,"  for  this  New  Age,  and  he  claims  that  this 
manifestation  is  the  greatest  and  most  glorious  yet  given  to 
mankind,  and  will  be  the  means  of  gathering  up  and  uniting  all 
previous  revelations  and  religions  as  rivers  are  gathered  up  and 
united  in  the  sea.  He  claims  to  be  the  manifestation  in  a 
human  temple  of  God  the  Supreme,  the  "  Lord  of  Hosts  "  of 
the  Israelites,  the  "  Father "  of  Whom  Christ  spoke,  the 
"  Allah  "  of  the  Moslems,  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth. 
Who  has  been  worshipped  under  different  names  in  all  periods 
of  the  world's  history,  and  Whose  "  coming  "  has  been  fore- 
told by  all  the  prophets. 

According  to  Baha'u'Uah  the  manifestation  of  God  in  the 
prophets  is  not  of  the  nature  of  Incarnation.  God  is  in  no  sense 
contained  in  or  limited  to  the  human  personality  of  the  man- 
ifestation, but  His  glory  is  reflected  by  the  prophet  as  the  light 
of  the  sun  is  reflected  by  a  mirror.  The  sun  does  not  descend 
into  the  mirror,  yet  by  looking  in  the  mirror  we  see  the  sun 
reflected  in  it.  In  the  same  way,  although  God  is  not  "  in- 
carnate "  in  the  manifestation,  yet  by  turning  to  it  we  see  God's 
glory  revealed  therein. 

The  Bahai,  therefore,  while  recognising  that  God  in  His 
Hidden  Reality  is  unknowable  and  unapproachable,  turns  in 
prayer  to  the  manifestation  which  He  has  given  of  Himself 
through  the  created  universe,  which  shows  forth  the  glory  of 
His  handiwork;  through  the  prophets,  who  came  in  the  glory 
of  conscious  servitude  to  Him ;  through  Christ,  Who  appeared 
"  in  the  glory  of  the  Son  " ;  and  through  the  "  Blessed  Perfec- 
tion," Baha'u'Uah,  who  has  come  "  in  the  glory  of  the  Father." 

In  answer  to  the  question,  "  Why  should  we  pray  through 
Christ  as  the  Christians  do,  or  through  another  manifestation 
of  God,  and  why  should  we  not  pray  to  God  direct?  "  Abdul 
Baha  answered : 


A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER  355 

If  we  wish  to  pray,  we  must  have  some  object  on  which  to  con- 
centrate. If  we  turn  to  (jod,  we  must  direct  our  hearts  to  a  certain 
centre.  If  man  worships  God  otherwise  than  throu<jli  His  manifes- 
tation, he  must  first  form  a  conception  of  God,  and  tliat  conception 
is  created  by  his  own  mind.  As  the  finite  cannot  comprehend  the 
Infinite,  so  God  is  not  to  be  comprehended  in  this  fashion.  That 
which  man  conceives  with  his  own  mind  he  comprehends.  That 
which  he  can  comprehend  is  not  God.  That  conception  of  God  which 
a  man  has  is  but  a  phantasm,  an  image,  an  imagination,  an  illusion. 
There  is  no  connection  between  such  a  conception  and  the  Supreme 
Being. 

If  man  wishes  to  know  God  he  must  find  Him  in  the  perfect 
mirror  ...  in   which  he  will  see   reflected  the   Sun  of  Divinity. 

As  we  know  the  physical  sun  by  its  splendour,  by  its  light  and 
heat,  so  we  know  God,  the  Spiritual  Sun,  when  He  shines  forth  from 
the  temple  of  manifestation,  by  His  attributes  of  perfection,  by  the 
beauty  of  His  qualities,  and  by  the  splendour  of  His  light.  .  .  .^ 

In  further  studying  the  subject  of  Prayer  in  the  Bahai  re- 
ligion we  cannot  do  better  than  turn  first  to  the  Daily  Prayer 
which  Bahais  are  recommended  to  recite  every  morning,  noon, 
and  evening.  The  directions  given  for  its  repetition  are  as 
follows : 

While  washing  the  hands,  say : 

O  my  God  !  Strengthen  my  hands  to  take  hold  of  Thy  Book  with 
such  firmness  that  the  hosts  of  the  world  shall  not  prevent  them, 
and  protect  them,  O  my  Lord,  from  taking  anything  which  is  not 
their  own.     Verily,  Thou  art  the  Powerful,  the  Mighty ! 

While  washing  the  face,  say : 

0  my  God !  I  have  turned  my  face  unto  Thee.  Enlighten  it  with 
the  Lights  of  Thy  Face,  and  protect  it  from  turning  to  any  but  Thee. 

Stand,  facing  Acca,  and  say : 

God  hath  testified  that  there  is  no  God  but  Him.  The  Command 
and  the  Creation  are  His.  He  hath  manifested  the  Dawning  Point 
of  Revelation,  and  the  Speaker  of  the  Mount,  through  whom  the 
Supreme  Horizon  shone,  the  Sadrat-cl-Montaha  spoke,  and  the  Voice 
proclaimed  between  earth  and  Heaven :  "  The  King  hath  come !  The 
Kingdom  and  Power  and  Glory  and  Majesty  are  His.  He  is  the 
Lord  of  mankind,  the  Ruler  of  the  Throne  and  of  the  dust." 

Bowing  down,  with  the  hands  upon  the  knees,  say : 

Thou  art  glorified  above  my  praise  and  that  of  others;  Holy  above 
my  mention  and  that  of  all  in  the  Heavens  and  on  the  earth. 

Standing,  with  the  hands  stretched  forward  and  upward, 
say: 

1  From  a  talk  given  to  Mr.  Percy  Woodcock  at  Acca,  in  1909. 


356  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

0  my  God !  Disappoint  him  not,  who  by  the  fingers  of  hope  held 
fast  to  the  train  of  Thy  Mercy  and  Bounty.  O  Thou,  Most  Merciful 
of  the  Merciful. 

Sitting  down,  say: 

1  confess  Thy  Oneness  and  Singleness  and  that  Thou  art  God. 
There  is  no  God  but  Thee.  Thou  hast  manifested  Thy  Command, 
fulfilled  Thy  Covenant,  and  opened  the  Gate  of  Thy  Bounty  to  all 
who  are  in  the  Heavens  and  upon  the  earth.  Prayer  and  peace, 
praise  and  glory  be  upon  Thy  beloved,  who  were  not  prevented  by 
the  deeds  of  the  people  from  turning  unto  Thee,  and  who  offered  what 
they  had  for  the  hope  of  what  Thou  hast.  Verily,  Thou  art  the  Mer- 
ciful, the  Forgiving ! 

The  parts  of  the  prayer  which  accompany  the  washing  of 
the  hands  and  face  raise  these  common  daily  acts  to  the  level 
of  a  sacrament.  They  remind  us  that  in  the  Bahai  religion 
cleanliness  is  not  "  next  to  godliness,"  but  a  part  of  godliness; 
and  that  even  the  most  trivial  acts  of  life  should  be  performed 
in  the  spirit  of  service  to  God  —  that  all  the  work  of  our  hands 
should  be  God's  work,  and  that  in  all  things  we  should  see 
the  Light  of  God's  face. 

The  believer  is  instructed  to  turn,  during  the  rest  of  the 
prayer,  towards  Acca.  Acca  is  the  little  fortress  town  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Carmel,  in  Palestine,  where  Baha'u'llah  was 
imprisoned  during  the  last  twenty-four  years  of  his  life,  from 
which  the  greater  part  of  his  teachings  emanated,  and  near 
which  his  remains,  and  also  those  of  the  Bab,  are  interred. 
Abdul  Baha  has  also  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  or 
near  Acca,  and  it  is  intended  that  his  remains  and  those  of 
Baha'u'llah  shall  ultimately  be  placed  in  the  same  mausoleum 
in  which  those  of  the  Bab  now  rest.  Acca  is  therefore  the 
"  Kibla  "of  the  Bahai  —  the  Most  Holy  Place  towards  which 
he  turns  in  prayer,  as  the  Jew  and  Christian  turn  to  Jerusalem 
and  the  Moslem  to  Mecca.  The  Bahai  reverences  Jerusalem 
and  Mecca  too,  and  every  place  that  has  been  made  holy  by  the 
feet  of  the  prophets,  but  as  the  glory  of  Baha'u'llah  far  trans- 
cends that  of  any  previous  manifestation  of  God,  so  the  Kibla 
of  Acca  far  transcends  in  holiness  and  importance  all  previous 
Kiblas.  That  the  use  of  a  Kibla,  to  which  believers,  wherever 
they  are,  habitually  turn  in  prayer,  is  a  genuine  help  to  devo- 
tion and  a  real  bond  of  union  with  fellow-believers  and  with  the 
Adored  One,  seems  to  be  borne  out  by  the  experience  of 
millions  of  people,  belonging  to  many  different  forms  of 
religion. 


A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER  357 

The  remaining  stanzas  of  the  prayer  are  repeated,  each  in  a 
different  and  appropriate  posture.  For  many  prayers  left  by 
Baha'u'llah,  specific  directions  are  given  as  to  poscure.  In 
some,  for  instance,  the  believer  is  told  to  kneel  with  the  fore- 
head touching  the  ground,  during  the  recital  of  certain  passages 
expressive  of  adoration.  That  these  postures,  like  the  use  of 
the  Kibla,  afford  real  help  in  adopting  and  maintaining  the 
devotional  attitude,  is  confirmed  by  abundant  experience. 
They  serve  also  as  a  reminder  that  religion  demands  the  conse- 
cration of  our  whole  being  ■ —  body  as  well  as  soul  and  spirit  — 
to  the  love  and  service  of  the  Supreme. 

It  is  the  custom  among  Persian  Bahais  to  chant  the  prayers 
aloud.     When  asked  the  reason  for  this,  Abdul  Baha  replied : 

One  reason  for  this  is  that  if  the  heart  alone  is  speaking  the  mind 
can  be  more  easily  disturbed.  But  repeating-  the  words,  so  that  the 
tongue  and  heart  act  together,  enables  the  mind  to  become  con- 
centrated. Then  the  whole  man  is  surrounded  by  the  spirit  of  prayer 
and  the  act  is  more  perfect.^ 

The  third  stanza  of  the  prayer  contains  a  statement  of  the 
Bahai  Creed.  It  sets  forth  in  the  first  place  the  Unity  of  God 
in  the  formula  so  familiar  to  Mohammedans  (There  is  no  God 
but  God!),  and  affirms  that  all  things  proceed  from  Him.  It 
then  declares  the  fact  of  His  manifestation  through  Baha'u'llah. 
The  tenns  "  Dawning  Point  of  Revelation  "  and  "  Speaker  of 
the  Mount  "  are  applied  by  Bahais  to  all  the  supreme  proph- 
ets, who  have  ascended  the  Mount  of  Inspiration  and  Revela- 
tion, and  thus  attained  to  Divine  Wisdom  and  Illumination, 
becoming  the  source  of  enlightenment  for  their  fellowmen. 
Here,  however,  the  terms  refer  particularly  to  Baha'u'llah. 
The  "  Sadrat-el-Montaha  "  was  a  tree  planted  by  the  Arabs  at 
the  end  of  the  road  as  a  guide  to  the  traveller.  Hence  the 
term  is  used  symbolically  to  denote  the  Divine  Guide  Who 
reveals  to  men  the  Way  of  God  and  the  true  aim  of  life. 

Notice  that  the  Divine  Voice  proclaims  "  between  earth  and 
heaven.''  It  is  for  those  in  the  "  life  beyond  "  as  well  as  for 
those  still  in  the  body.  And  it  announces  the  Supreme  Mani- 
festation of  God :  "  The  King  hath  come!  The  Kingdom,  and 
Power  and  Glory,  and  Majesty  are  to  Him;  the  Lord  of  man- 
kind, the  Ruler  of  the  Throne  and  of  the  dust !  "  For  nearly 
two  thousand  vears  Christians  have  prayed :  "  Our  Father 
which  art  in  Heaven  .  .  .  Thy  Kingdom   come."     To   this 

2  Notes  Qf  Mr?;  Preyfus-Barney. 


358  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

prayer  Baha'u'llah  answers:  "The  Father  hath  come!  The 
King  hath  come !  Behold  the  temple  of  God  and  His  Glory 
manifest  therein.  Ho!  all  who  have  longed  and  prayed  for 
His  coming,  arise  to  meet  Him." 

The  importance  attached  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Unity 
is  seen  from  the  fact  that  it  is  repeated  with  even  greater 
emphasis  in  the  last  stanza.  The  Covenant  there  referred  to 
is  God's  Covenant  with  His  people,  which  has  been  stated  with 
increasing  clearness  by  one  after  another  of  the  great  prophets, 
all  down  the  ages.  God  has  now  fulfilled  His  Covenant.  He 
has  appeared  among  men  in  human  form  and  "  in  the  glory  of 
the  Father."  He  has  spoken  to  them  with  human  lips,  revealed 
to  them  His  Will,  proved  to  them  His  Love,  and  opened  to 
them  the  Gate  of  His  Bounty.  And  again  it  is  affirmed  that 
this  revelation  is  not  only  to  those  still  in  the  flesh  but  to  "  all 
that  are  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth." 

Then  follows  a  petition  for  those  "  who  were  not  prevented 
by  the  deeds  of  the  people  from  turning  unto  Thee,  and  who 
offered  what  they  had  for  the  hope  of  what  Thou  hast."  How 
wonderfully,  in  these  words,  is  the  essence  of  the  reHgious  life 
set  forth!  Entire  devotion  to  God  of  all  that  we  are  and  all 
that  we  have,  and  freedom  from  attachment  to  anything  but 
God :  that  is  the  one  condition  on  which  the  Higher  Life  can  be 
lived  and  the  "  meeting  with  God  "  attained. 

The  prayer  ends  in  a  way  very  characteristic  of  Bahai 
prayers,  with  the  words:  "  Verily  Thou  art  the  Merciful,  the 
Forgiving." 

In  cases  of  necessity  a  shorter  prayer  may  be  substituted  for 
the  usual  daily  prayer.  If  circumstances  render  the  recital  of 
even  that  impossible,  a  simple  repetition  of  the  Greatest  Name 
— "Ya  Baha'u'llah  el  Abha "  (i.e.  O  Glory  of  God,  Most 
Glorious)  —  inaudible,  if  necessary,  with  a  turning  of  the 
heart  to  God,  will  suffice.     The  shorter  prayer  is  as  follows : 

After  ablution  of  the  hands  and  (face,  turn  towards  Acca, 
and  say: 

I  testify.  O  my  God.  that  Thou  hast  created  me  to  know  Thee  and 
to  adore  Thee.  I  testify  at  this  instant  to  my  powerlessness  and  to 
Thy  Power;  to  my  weakness  and  to  Thy  Might;  to  my  poverty  and 
to    Thy    Riches.     There    is    no    God   but    Thee,   the    Protector,    the 

Self-Subsistent ! 

The  daily  prayer  is  to  be  repeated  by  each  believer  alone, 
and  not  in  unison  with  others. 

Baha'u'llah  and  Abdul  Baha  haye  revealed  forms  of  prayer 


A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER  359 

suitable  for  all  occasions,  some  for  individual,  others  for  con- 
gregational use,  e.g.  prayers  to  be  used  at  dawn,  in  the  morn- 
ing, at  mid-day,  in  the  evening,  at  midnight,  on  awaking  and 
on  retiring,  on  entering  or  leaving  a  house  or  city,  when  assum- 
ing the  daily  duties,  on  visits  to  the  Holy  Tombs  or  to  the 
graves  of  saints  and  martyrs,  prayers  for  expectant  mothers, 
for  children,  for  the  sick,  for  the  dead,  prayers  for  peace,  etc. 
Extempore  prayer  is  also  encouraged.  In  fact  Abdul  Baha  de- 
clares :     "  Man  must  live  in  a  state  of  prayer."     He  says : 

In  the  Bahai  cause  arts,  sciences,  and  all  crafts  are  counted  as 
worship.  The  man  who  makes  a  piece  of  notepaper  to  the  best  of 
his  ability,  conscientiously,  concentrating  all  his  forces  on  perfecting 
it,  is  giving  praise  to  God.  Briefly,  all  effort  and  exertion  put  forth 
by  man  from  the  fuhiess  of  his  heart  is  worship,  if  it  is  prompted 
by  the  highest  motives  and  the  will  to  do  service  to  humanity.  This 
is  worship:  to  serve  mankind  and  to  minister  to  the  needs  of  the 
people.  Service  is  prayer.  A  physician  ministering  to  the  sick, 
gently,  tenderly,  free  from  prejudice,  and  believing  in  the  solidarity 
of  the  human  race,  is  giving  praise.^ 

Abdul  Baha  says  that  in  prayer  we  must  be  freed  from  all 
outward  things,  and  turn  to  God.  Then  it  is  that  we  hear,  as 
it  were,  the  voice  of  God  in  our  hearts.     He  says : 

We  must  strive  to  attain  to  that  condition  by  being  separated  from 
all  things  and  from  the  people  of  the  world  and  by  turning  to  God 
alone.  It  will  take  some  effort  on  the  part  of  man  to  attain  to  that 
condition,  but  he  must  work  for  it,  strive  for  it.  We  can  attain  to 
it  by  thinking  and  caring  less  for  material  things  and  more  for 
spiritual.  The  further  we  go  from  the  one,  the  nearer  we  are  to 
the  other  —  the  choice  is  ours.  Our  spiritual  perception,  our  inward 
sight,  must  be  opened  so  that  we  can  see  the  signs  and  traces  of  God's 
Spirit  in  everything.* 

These  ideas  are  beautifully  expressed  in  the  following 
prayer  by  Baha'u'llah : 

Glory  be  unto  Thee,  O  God,  for  Thy  Manifestation  of  Love  to 
mankind.  O  Thou,  Who  art  our  Life  and  Light,  guide  Thy  servants 
to  Thy  Way,  and  make  them  rich  in  Thee  and  free  from  all  save 
Thee. 

O  God,  teach  them  Thy  Oneness,  and  give  unto  them  a  realisation 
of  Thy  Unity,  that  they  may  see  no  one  save  Thee.  Thou  art  the 
Merciful  and  the  Giver  of  Bounty. 

O  God,  create  in  the  hearts  of  Thy  beloved  the  fire  of  Thy  Love, 
that  it  may  burn  the  thought  of  everything  save  Thee. 

Reveal  unto  them,  O  God,  Thy  exalted  Eternity,  that  Thou  hast 

3  Paris    Talks,    2nd    edition,    p.    164. 

4  These  answers  of  Abdul  Baha  are  quoted  from  an  article  in  the  Fortnightly 
Reviczv  for  June  191 1,  by  Miss  E.  S.  Stevens. 


360  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

ever  been  and  wilt  ever  be,  and  that  there  is  no  God  save  Thee. 
Verily  in  Thee  will  they  find  comfort  and  strength. 

When  asked  if  prayer  was  necessary,  since  presumably  God 
knows  the  wishes  of  all  hearts,  Abdul  Baha  said: 

If  one  friend  feels  love  for  another,  he  will  wish  to  say  so.  Though 
he  knows  that  the  friend  is  aware  that  he  loves  him,  he  will  still 
wish  to  say  so.  .  .  .  God  knows  the  wishes  of  all  hearts,  but  the 
impulse  to  pray  is  a  natural  one,  springing  from  man's  love  to 
God.  .  .  . 

Prayer  need  not  be  in  words,  but  in  thought  and  attitude.  If 
this  love  and  desire  are  lacking,  it  is  useless  to  try  to  force  them. 
Words  without  love  mean  nothing.  If  a  person  talks  to  you  as  an 
unpleasant  duty,  with  no  love  or  pleasure  in  his  meeting  with  you, 
do  you  wish  to  converse  with  him?  Efforts  should  first  be  made  to 
make  attachment  to  God.^ 

When  asked  how  the  state  of  attachment  to  God  could  be 
attained,  Abdul  Baha  replied : 

Knowledge  is  love.  Study,  listen  to  exhortations,  think,  try  to 
understand  the  wisdom  and  greatness  of  God.  .  .  .  The  soil  must  be 
fertilised  before   the   seed  be   sown.^ 

In  one  of  his  talks  on  prayer  Abdul  Baha  said : 

The  heart  of  man  is  like  a  mirror  which  is  covered  by  dust,  and 
to  cleanse  it  we  must  continually  pray  to  God  that  it  may  become 
clean.  The  act  of  supplication  is  the  polish  which  erases  all  worldly 
desires.  .  .  .  There  are  many  subjects  which  are  difficult  for  man 
to  solve,  but  during  prayer  and  supplication  they  are  unveiled,  and 
there  is  nothing  that  man  cannot  find  out.  Mohammed  said:  "  Prayer 
is  a  ladder  by  which  every  one  can  ascend  to  Heaven."  If  a  man's 
heart  is  cut  from  the  world,  his  prayer  is  the  ascension  to  heaven. 

In  the  highest  prayer,  men  pray  only  for  the  love  of  God,  not 
because  they  fear  Him  or  hell,  or  hope  for  bounty  or  heaven.  .  .  . 
When  a  man  falls  in  love  with  a  human  being,  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  keep  from  mentioning  the  name  of  his  beloved.  How  much 
more  difficult  is  it  to  keep  from  mentioning  the  name  of  God 
when  we  have  come  to  love  Him.  .  .  .  The  spiritual  man  finds  no 
delight  in  anything  save  in  commemoration  of  God.® 

Again  he  says : 

God  will  answer  the  prayer  of  every  servant  if  that  prayer  is 
urgent.  His  Mercy  is  vast,  illimitable.  He  answers  the  prayers  of 
all  His  servants.  He  answers  the  prayer  of  this  plant.  The  plant 
prays  potentially :  "  O  God !  send  me  rain !  "  God  answers  this 
prayer   and   the   plant   grows.  .  .  .  Before   we   were   born    into   this 

5  These  answers  of  Abdul  Baha  are  quoted  from  an  article  in  the  Fortnightly  Review 
for  June    191 1,  by  Miss   E.    S.   Stevens. 

6  Words  of  Abdul  Baha  from  notes  of  Miss  Alma  Robertson  and  other  pilgrims, 
November   and   December    1900. 


A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER  361 

world  did  we  not  pray :  "  O  God !  Give  me  a  mother ;  give  me  two 
fountains  of  bright  milk;  purify  the  air  for  my  breathing;  grant 
me  rest  and  comfort;  prepare  food  for  my  sustenance  and  living!" 
Did  we  not  pray  potentially  for  these  needed  blessings  before  we 
were  created?  \\'hen  we  came  into  the  world  did  we  not  find  our 
prayers  answered?  Did  we  not  find  mother,  father,  food,  light,  home, 
and  every  other  necessity  and  blessing  although  we  did  not  actually 
ask  for  them?  .  .  .  But  we  ask  for  things  which  the  Divine  wisdom 
does  not  desire  for  us,  and  there  is  no  answer  to  our  prayer.  His 
wisdom  does  not  sanction  what  we  wish.  .  .  .  For  instance,  a  very 
feeble  patient  may  ask  the  doctor  to  give  him  food  which  would 
be  positively  dangerous  to  his  life.  .  .  .  The  doctor  is  kind  and 
wise.  He  knows  it  would  be  dangerous  to  his  patient,  so  he  refuses 
to  allow  it.  The  doctor  is  merciful,  the  patient  ignorant.  Through 
the  doctor's  kindness  the  patient  recovers.  Yet  the  patient  may  cry 
out  that  the  doctor  was  unkind,  not  good,  because  he  refused  to 
answer  his  pleading.  God  is  merciful.  In  His  mercy  He  answers 
the  prayers  of  all  His  servants  when  they  are  according  to  His 
supreme  wisdom.^ 

In  one  of  Baha'u'llah's  Morning  Prayers  the  words  occur : 

0  my  God,  let  my  destiny,  which  is  written  by  Thy  Greatest  Pen, 
be  to  obtain  the  blessings  of  the  worlds  to  come  and  of  the  present 
one.  I  hereby  bear  witness  that  in  Thy  Hands  are  the  reins  of  all 
things  and  that  Thou  changest  them  according  to  Thy  Will,  and 
that  there  is  no  God  but  Thee,  for  Thou  art  the  One,  the  Almighty, 
the  Faithful. 

Thou  art  the  One  Who  changest  by  His  command  the  dishonoured 
to  the  highest  state  of  honour,  the  weak  to  be  strong,  the  failing  to 
have  power,  the  confused  to  be  in  peace  and  the  doubting  to  have 
strong  faith. 

There  is  no  God  but  Thee,  Who  art  the  Dearest  and  the  Most 
Generous.  The  heavens  of  Thy  Mercy  and  the  oceans  of  Thy  Bounty 
are  so  vast  that  Thou  hast  never  disappointed  those  who  begged  of 
Thee,  nor  refused  those  who  willed  to  come  to  Thee. 

Thou  art  the  Most  Powerful,  the  Almighty ! 

In  one  of  Baha'u'llah's  prayers  for  Healing  occur  the  words : 

In  Thy  Name,  the  Sufficer,  the  Healer,  the  Fulfiller,  the  Loftiest, 
the  Supreme,  the  Baha  el  Abha ! 

1  ask  Thee  by  Thine  Ancient  Beauty,  and  I  supplicate  Thee  by 
the  Manifestation  of  Thy  Greatest  Majesty,  and  Thy  Name,  around 
which  the  Heavens  of  the  Manifestations  revolve  ...  by  which  all 
sorrow  will  be  turned  into  joy  and  all  disease  will  be  turned  into 
health,  and  by  which  every  sick.  aflRicted,  unfortunate,  and  con- 
strained one  may  be  healed,  to  suflFice  to  heal  this  weary  sick-worn 
one  of  the  seen  and  the  unseen  disease. 

Verily  Thou  art  the  Powerful,  the  Conqueror,  the  Might}',  the 
Living,  the  Forgiver. 

T  Words  of  Abdul   Baha.  Star  of  the   West.  vol.   iii.   No.    i8.  p.   6. 


362  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

The  Bahai  teaching  emphatically  approves  of  prayers  for 
the  dead.     Abdul  Baha  says  : 

Those  who  have  ascended  have  different  attributes  from  those 
who  are  still  on  earth,  yet  there  is  no  real  separation.  In  prayer 
there  is  a  mingling  of  station,  a  mingling  of  condition.  Pray  for 
them  as  they  pray  for  you.^ 

Asked  whether  it  was  possible  through  love  and  faith  to 
bring  the  New  Revelation  to  the  knowledge  of  those  who  have 
departed  from  this  life  without  hearing  of  it,  Abdul  Baha  said: 

Yes,  surely,  sincere  prayer  always  has  its  effect  and  it  has  a  great 
influence  in  the  other  world.  We  are  never  cut  off  from  those  who 
are  there.  The  real  and  genuine  influence  is  not  in  this  world  but 
in  that  other.^ 

The  following  prayer  for  the  forgiveness  of  souls  who  have 
departed  from  this  world  in  ignorance  is  from  the  pen  of 
Abdul  Baha : 

He  is  God ! 

O  Thou  Forgiving  Lord !  Although  certain  souls  finished  the  days 
of  their  life  in  ignorance,  were  estranged  and  selfish,  yet  the  Ocean 
of  Thy  Forgiveness  is  verily  able  to  redeem  and  make  free  the 
sinners  by  one  of  its  Waves.  Thou  redeemest  whomsoever  Thou 
wiliest  and  deprivest  whomsoever  Thou  wiliest. 

Should'st  Thou  deal  justly,  we  all  are  sinners  and  deserve  to  be 
deprived ;  but  should'st  Thou  observe  mercy,  every  sinner  shall  be 
made  pure  and  every  stranger  shall  become  a  friend.  Therefore 
forgive,  pardon  and  grant  Thy  Mercy  unto  all.  Thou  art  the  For- 
giver,    the    Light-Giver,    and   the    Compassionate ! 

Some  one  asked  Abdul  Baha  how  it  was  that  in  prayer  and 
meditation  the  heart  often  turns  with  instinctive  appeal  to 
some  friend  who  has  passed  into  the  next  life?     He  answered: 

It  is  a  law  of  God's  creation  that  the  weak  should  lean  upon  the 
strong.  Those  to  whom  you  turn  may  be  mediators  of  God's  power 
to  you,  even  as  when  on  earth,  but  it  is  the  one  Holy  Spirit  which 
strengthens  all  men. 

Regarding  the  value  of  united  or  group  prayer,  Abdul  Baha 
said: 

When  manv  are  gathered  together  their  force  is  greater.  Separate 
soldiers  fightinp-  alone  and  individuallv  have  not  the  force  of  a  united 
armv.  If  all  the  soldiers  in  this  spiritual  war  gather  together,  then 
their  united  spiritual  feelings  help  each  other  and  their  prayers  be- 
come more  acceptable.^" 

8  Ahdul  Baha  in  London,  p.  97. 

9  Notes  of  Mary  Han-ford  Ford:  Paris,   191 1. 

10  Notes  of  Mrs.  Dreyfus-Barney. 


A  STUDY  OF  BAHAI  PRAYER  363 

Many  are  the  prayers  for  peace  which  have  been  revealed 
by  Baha'u'llah  and  Abdul  Baha.  The  following  from  Abdul 
Baha  may  be  given  as  an  example : 

Bring  them  together  again,  O  Lord,  by  the  power  of  Thy  Covenant, 
and  gather  their  dispersion  by  the  might  of  Thy  Promise,  and  unite 
their  hearts  by  the  dominion  of  Thy  Love;  and  mal<c  them  love  each 
other  so  that  they  may  sacrifice  their  spirits,  expend  their  money,  and 
give  up  their  Hves  for  the  love  of  one  another. 

O  Lord,  cause  to  descend  upon  them  quietness  and  tranquillity ! 
Shower  upon  them  the  Clouds  of  Thy  Mercy  in  great  abundance,  and 
make  them  to  adorn  themselves  with  the  attributes  of  the  Si)iritual ! 

O  Lord,  make  us  firm  in  Thy  noble  command  and  bestow  upon  us 
Thy  Gifts  through  Thy  Bounty,  Grace  and  Munificence. 

Verily,  Thou  art  the  Generous,  the  Merciful  and  the  Benevolent! 

In  their  attitude  towards  suffering  the  Bahai  teachers  differ 
greatly  from  many  modern  teachers.  Baha'u'llah  declares 
that  "  The  sincere  lover  longs  for  suffering,  as  the  rebel  craves 
forgiveness,  and  the  sinner  prays  for  mercy."  The  suffering 
is  desired,  not  for  its  own  sake  but  as  the  only  adequate  means 
of  manifesting  the  higher  love  for  sinful  and  suffering 
humanity.     Abdul   Baha  prays : 

O  my  God !  O  my  God !  Verily  my  blood  is  yearning  to  be  shed 
in  Thy  Path,  my  heart  is  desirous  to  be  consumed  by  the  Fire  of 
Thy  Love,  and  my  body  is  longing  to  ascend  unto  the  cross,  to  be 
as  a  sacrifice  to  Thy  servants. 

O  Lord,  destine  to  me  this  Great  Favour,  and  bestow  upon  me  this 
Wonderful  Bounty,  so  that  I  may  attain  to  the  eternal,  everlasting 
and  endless  Life. 

Verily  Thou  art  the  Generous,  the  Clement,  the  Bountiful! 

But  although  the  true  Bahai  is  always  ready,  nay  eager,  to 
suffer  for  the  sake  of  others,  there  is  nothing  morbid  or  ascetic 
about  his  attitude  to  life.  Spiritually,  he  is  in  the  greate.st 
happiness,  even  amid  dire  hardship  and  calamity.  Baha'u'llah 
says: 

It  is  incumbent  upon  you  that  glad  tidings  and  exultation  shall  be 
manifest  in  your  faces;  so  that  every  soul  may  find  in  you  submis- 
sion and  forbearance. 

He  says  also  :  "  Deprive  not  yourself  of  that  which  has  been 
created  for  you." 

The  essential  joyousness  of  the  Bahai  way  of  life  is  beau- 
tifully expressed  in  the  following  prayer  by  Abdul  Baha: 

O  God.  refresh  and  gladden  mv  spirit.  Purify  my  heart.  En- 
lighten my  understanding.     I  lay  all  my  affairs  in  Thy  hand.     Thou 


364  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

art  my  Guide  and  my  Refuge.  I  will  not  be  sorrowful  and  grieved 
any  more.  I  will  be  a  happy  and  joyful  being.  O  God,  I  will  not 
worry  any  more.  I  will  not  let  trouble  harass  me  any  longer.  I 
will  not  dwell  on  the  unpleasant  things  of  life.  O  God,  Thou  art 
kinder  to  me  than  myself.     I  dedicate  myself  to  Thee,  O  Lord! 

The  following  prayer  for  steadfastness,  by  Baha'u'llah,  is 
also  very  characteristic  of  the  Bahai  spirit,  strong  "  in  the 
strength  of  dependence  "  : 

Glory  be  to  Thee,  my  God  and  my  Beloved !  Thy  Fire  is  burning 
in  me,  O  my  Lord,  and  I  feel  its  glowing  in  every  member  of  my 
weak  body.  Every  organ  of  my  temple  declares  Thy  Power  and  Thy 
Might,  and  every  member  testifies  that  Thou  art  powerful  over  all 
things.  By  Thy  Strength  I  feel  strong  to  withstand  all  trials  and 
all  temptations.  Make  firm  Thy  Love  in  my  heart,  and  then  I  can 
bear  all  the  swords  of  the  earth.  Verily  every  hair  of  my  head 
testifies :  "  Were  it  not  for  trials  in  Thy  Path  I  should  not  have 
appreciated  Thy  Love." 

O  my  Lord,  strengthen  me  to  remain  firm,  to  uphold  the  Hands  of 
Thy  Cause,  and  to  serve  Thee  among  Thy  people. 

Thou  art  Loving  !     Thou  art  Bountiful ! 

We  shall  conclude  this  brief  selection  of  Bahai  prayers  with 
a  beautiful  supplication  by  Baha'u'llah: 

O  my  God !  Make  Thy  Beauty  to  be  my  food,  and  let  Thy  Presence 
be  my  drink.  Let  my  trust  be  in  Thy  Will,  and  my  deeds  according 
to  Thy  Command.  Let  my  service  be  acceptable  to  Thee,  and  my 
action  a  praise  to  Thee.  Let  my  help  come  only  from  Thee,  and 
ordain  my  Home  to  be  Thv  Mansion,  boundless  and  holy. 

Thou  art  the  Precious,  the  Ever-present,  the  Loving ! 

Note. —  All  the  prayers  and  quotations  given  in  this  paper 
have  been  translated  by  various  translators  from  Persian  or 
Arabic. 

Readers  desiring  further  information  about  the  Bahai  move- 
ment are  advised  to  read  — 

Thornton  Chase,  The  Bahai  Revelation. 
Chas.  Mason  Remey,  The  Bahai  Movement. 
Laura  Clifford  Barney.  Some  Anszvered  Questions. 
Abdul  Baha.  Talks  in  Paris. 
Abdul  Baha  in  London. 
Baha'u'llah,  Hidden  Words. 


XVII 

AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  OF 
PRAYER 


BY 

MANILAL  MANEKLAL  N.  MEHTA, 
M.A.,  B.Sc,  LL.B. 

PROFESSOR   OF    PHYSICS,    BAHAUDDIN    COLLEGE,    JUNAGADH,    KATHIAWAR,    INDIA 


XVII 

AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  OF 
PRAYER 

[This  is  an  attempt  to  place  before  a  Western  public  Indian  theo- 
sophical  truths  in  very  simple  language,  avoiding  all  technical 
phraseology.] 

Modern  materialists  view  incredulously  that  expression  of 
human  wish  and  aspiration  towards  the  Divine  which  is  called 
prayer.  They  cannot  establish  any  causal  nexus  between  the 
prayer  and  its  fulfilment.  In  their  dogmatism  they  brush 
aside  what  to  a  devotional  mind  is  more  real  than  anything  else. 
To  do  so  is  to  ignore  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  human  experi- 
ence and  fact.  The  materialist  cannot  account  satisfactorily 
for  the  great  amount  of  human  suffering,  human  weaknesses, 
and  human  struggles.  In  the  very  midst  of  these  are  human 
bliss,  human  strength,  and  human  success.  Eternal  hope  al- 
ways establishes  its  supremacy  over  all  failures,  and  forms  the 
mainstay  of  human  happiness.  We  cannot  be  blind  to  these 
facts ;  we  cannot  reduce  ourselves  to  the  brute  so  that  nothing 
finer  can  give  us  joy  or  sorrow  than  the  mere  struggle  for 
corporeal  existence;  nor  can  we  by  a  sudden  effort  of  the  will 
raise  ourselves  up  to  that  serene  height  in  which  we  transcend 
the  pairs  of  opposites  —  pleasure  and  pain,  virtue  and  vice, 
success  and  failure.  In  perhaps  one  out  of  a  hundred  million 
may  be  found  an  utter  want  of  those  finer  human  passions  that 
distinguish  man  from  the  brute,  or  that  firm  and  intense  will 
that  takes  him  at  once  beyond  humanity.  But  none  knows  the 
consequent  in  the  former,  the  antecedent  in  the  latter.  Human 
growth  in  body  and  mind  is  an  evolutionary  process,  gradual 
and  in  accordance  with  fixed  laws.  None  can  ignore  these 
laws  and  escape  the  results :  none  can  manipulate  these  except 
so  far  as  he  has  obtained  the  strength  to  wield  them  by  a  sure 
growth  previously.  The  ordinary  man,  to  whom  to  be  a  brute 
is  an  impossibility  and  to  be  a  saint  is  a  far  distant  prospect, 
requires  a  means  that  shall  remove  the  brute  that  yet  remains  in 

367 


368  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

him  and  elevate  him  to  the  godly  man  who  transcends  human 
weaknesses,  by  evoking  the  latent  divinity  in  him. 

Prayer  is  the  means.  It  purifies  a  man's  lower  nature, 
leavens  his  whole  life,  and  raises  him  nearer  to  the  gods.  He 
may  not  know  the  genesis  of  it  nor  the  modus  operandi.  He 
seems  to  feel  his  way,  guided  by  some  invisible  power  within 
him.  But  his  ignorance  of  the  law  of  its  working  lessens  in 
no  degree  the  effect  of  his  actions.  We  live  in  a  world  of  law. 
As  with  cause  and  effect  in  other  matters,  so  here.  A  man  sets 
the  cause  in  action,  and  he  gets  the  benefit  of  the  effect.  His 
ignorance  of  the  process  no  more  deprives  him  of  the  results 
than  the  like  ignorance  of  a  scientific  process  deprives  him  of 
a  chemical  result  the  conditions  of  whose  production  are  all 
satisfied. 

Man  is  as  composite  in  his  nature  as  is  his  life.  He  wills, 
he  thinks,  he  desires,  he  feels,  and  he  acts.  He  has  in  him- 
self a  part  corresponding  to  each  of  these  phases.  It  is  not 
merely  that  he  may  have  an  organ  in  the  physical  body  set 
apart  for  each,  but  that  he  has  an  existence  in  each  of  these 
forms;  he  is  a  willing,  a  thinking,  a  desiring,  and  an  acting 
entity  —  each  of  these  quite  apart  from  the  rest.  We  must 
leave  aside  for  our  present  purpose  the  metaphysical  questions 
of  how  far  the  will,  the  thought,  the  desire,  and  the  act  are  one 
or  separate,  related  or  independent.  Metaphysics  will  no  more 
help  us  to  understand  the  problem  of  our  present  discourse 
than  pure  materialism.  We  see,  then,  that  man  is  a  composite 
being,  living  a  composite  life,  in  various  phases,  or,  as  it  is  con- 
veniently termed,  living  on  different  planes  —  the  physical 
plane  for  his  actions,  the  desire-plane  for  his  desires  and  feel- 
ings, th®  mental  plane  for  his  thoughts,  the  spiritual  for  his  will. 
I  do  not  attempt  here  any  explanation  of  these,  or  give  the 
reason  why  I  name  them  as  such,  as  that  would  take  me  away 
from  my  main  theme.  But  as  the  discourse  proceeds,  the 
distinctions  I  have  made  will  be  sufficiently  clear  and,  I  hope, 
quite  acceptable  and  workable  for  our  understanding,  as  they 
are  true  to  fact. 

As  man's  life  is  composite  within,  so  is  his  universe  com- 
posite. I  do  not  merely  follow  out  the  oft-quoted  saying,  "  As 
within,  so  without,"  or  "  The  microcosm  is  a  reflection  of  the 
macrocosm,"  though  these  are  true,  and  those  who  have  studied 
accept  them.  I  base  it  here  on  evidence  which  has  been  col- 
lected in  support  of  these  conceptions,  and  which  compels  us  to 
accept  them  as  fact.     There  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  exist- 


AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  369 

ence  of  worlds  beyond  the  physical  to  convince  an  unbiassed 
mind.  Alan  lives  consciously  or  unconsciously  on  different 
planes  or  in  different  worlds,  each  inhabited  by  entities  as 
composite  as  himself  or  simpler,  but  each  existent  on  a  partic- 
ular plane  as  he  himself  is  on  that  plane.  The  distinction  be- 
tween these  worlds  is  not  in  space  but  in  character.  To  a  scien- 
tific mind  this  is  intelligible,  knowing  as  it  does  the  nature  of 
ether,  the  carrier  of  heat,  light,  and  electricity,  which  pene- 
trates all  matter,  and  is  yet  peculiarly  modified  by  the  substance 
through  which  it  passes.  Thus  the  etheric  envelope  or  coun- 
terpart of  a  block  of  glass,  though  continuous  with  the  general 
ocean  of  ether,  which  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  the  etheric 
counterpart  of  the  atmosphere,  is  yet  different  from  it  in  phys- 
ical properties,  giving  a  different  refractive  index.  The  whole 
etheric  earth  interpenetrates  the  physical  earth  without  giving 
to  our  physical  senses  any  evidence  of  its  existence.  Similarly, 
entities  purely  etheric  may  live  in  the  etheric  world  without  our 
knowledge  on  the  physical  plane.  So  also  do  finer  worlds 
exist,  interpenetrating  these,  and  are  peopled  by  entities  as  real 
as  beings  on  the  physical  globe.  We  have  the  desire-plane 
(world),  the  mental  plane  (world),  and  the  spiritual  plane 
(world),  each  a  universe  by  itself,  radically  related  to  the 
physical  universe.  I  leave  out  the  technicalities  and  tTie  details, 
as  they  are  not  required  for  our  purpose.  Intelligences  of 
various  sorts  inhabit  these  planes  for  the  same  reasons  and  pur- 
poses for  which  we  inhabit  this  physical  globe.  "  The  powers 
of  intelligence  are  in  ascending  degrees,  and  the  highest  is  much 
more  above  the  human  than  the  human  is  above  that  of  the 
black  beetle"  (Huxley). 

lamblichus,  classifying  prayers,  says:  "  For  this  is  of  itself 
a  thing  worthy  to  be  known,  and  renders  more  perfect  the  sci- 
ence concerning  the  Gods.  I  say,  therefore,  that  the  first  spe- 
cies of  prayer  is  collective;  and  that  it  is  also  the  leader  of  con- 
tact with  and  a  knowledge  of  Divinity.  The  second  species  is 
the  bond  of  concordant  communion,  calling  forth  prior  to  the 
energy  of  speech  the  gifts  imparted  by  the  Gods,  and  perfect- 
ing the  whole  of  our  operations  prior  to  our  intellectual  con- 
ceptions. And  the  third  and  most  perfect  species  of  prayer  is 
the  seal  of  ineffable  union  with  the  Divinities,  in  Whom  it 
establishes  all  the  power  and  authority  of  prayer,  and  thus 
causes  the  soul  to  repose  in  the  Gods,  as  in  a  never- failing  port. 
But  from  these  three  terms,  in  which  all  the  Divine  measures 
are  contained,  suppliant  adoration  not  only  conciliates  to  us 


370  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

the  friendship  of  the'  Gods,  but  supernally  extends  to  us  three 
fruits,  being  as  it  were  three  Hesperian  apples  of  gold.  The 
first  of  these  pertains  to  illumination;  the  second  to  a  com- 
munion of  operation;  but  through  the  energy  of  the  third  we 
receive  a  perfect  plenitude  of  Divine  power."  ^ 

It  will  add  to  the  clearness  of  our  thought  if  we  also  consider 
the  classification  from  another  point  of  view.  The  states  or 
conditions  in  one  of  which  every  entity  has  the  prominent  note 
of  its  existence  are  well  known  in  Eastern  philosophy.  To 
follow  that,  prayer  would  be  classified  as  Tamasic  (correspond- 
ing to  the  inert  state  of  matter),  Rajasic  (corresponding  to  the 
active  state  of  matter),  and  Satvic  (corresponding  to  the  har- 
monious vibration  of  matter).  To  relate  these  to  our  subject 
—  the  first  is  connected  with  the  gratification  of  desires  for 
worldly  possessions  and  prosperity,  honour,  rank,  health;  the 
second  is  concerned  with  the  aspiration  for  knowledge,  the  keen 
longing  to  pierce  the  mysteries  of  life,  to  know  the  Divine  plan 
and  its  working;  the  third  seeks  union  with  the  Divine  —  it  is 
Love,  oneness  with  the  Law.  The  first  acts  on  the  desire- 
plane,  the  second  on  the  mental,  and  the  third  on  the  spiritual. 
The  first  is  personal,  in  the  widest  as  well  as  the  narrowest 
sense,  and  exclusive.  The  second  is  personal  but  not  exclusive. 
The  third  is  all-inclusive. 

Every  being  in  the  world  is  constantly  goaded  on  by  the  one 
will  from  object  to  object,  and  experience  to  experience.  He 
enjoys  one  object,  feels  more  of  life,  and  with  the  expanded 
consciousness  longs  for  yet  greater  life,  and  leaves  the  first 
object  for  another  more  suited  to  his  further  growth;  and  so  he 
goes  on  through  life,  gathering  experiences,  the  fruits  of  his 
relations  to  objects.  His  prayers  in  the  first  instance  will  be 
for  material  objects,  for  the  gratification  of  his  desires.  These 
are  on  the  physical  plane.  Even  on  this  plane  the  desire  may 
be  the  purest  of  its  kind,  as  when  a  philanthropist  prays  for 
money  that  he  may  have  more  to  give  to  the  poor  and  the 
maimed,  or  for  more  power  that  he  may  be  better  able  to 
arrange  the  affairs  of  the  state  for  the  common  welfare.  It  is, 
however,  still  a  physical  desire,  and  is  administered  to  as  such. 
He  gets  the  money  from  some  charitably  disposed  person,  or 
obtains  power  through  the  trust  the  people  repose  in  him.  His 
prayers  are  heard;  he  gets  the  means,  and  he  does  his  work. 
He  satisfies  the  desires  of  his  fellowmen  for  comfort  and  for 

1  On  the  Mysteries. 


AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  371 

physical  peace.  The  other  kinds  of  prayer  find  expression  in 
the  philosopher  and  the  mystic. 

To  come  to  a  consideration  of  the  mode  of  expression  and 
the  mode  of  answering:  all  the  planes,  as  I  have  stated  above, 
are  inhabited  by  intelligences  for  the  same  reason  and  purpo.se 
for  which  we  inhabit  this.  Now  a  man  —  say  A  —  on  the 
physical  plane  desires  money  for  a  charitable  institution.  He 
sends  out  a  prayer ;  his  desire-body  vibrates  to  express  that 
desire;  that  vibration  sends  a  corresponding  thrill  out  on  the 
desire-plane,  and  is  caught  by  a  well-intentioned  intelligence. 
That  intelligence  looks  around  him  for  some  philanthropist, 
and,  finding  one  such,  say  in  B,  sends  towards  B's  mental  body 
thoughts  of  helping  A.  The  attack  of  the  thoughts  becomes 
so  persistent  (B  may  himself  not  be  able  to  account  for  the 
whole  process  in  his  mind)  that  B  feels  unable  to  resist  the 
demand,  decides  to  help  A,  and  sends  the  money  immediately. 
A's  prayer  is  heard ;  and  so  are  all  such  prayers  heard.  A  host 
of  intelligences,  carrying  on  their  own  evolution,  well  in- 
clined to  help  humanity,  are  always  ready  to  take  up  such 
prayers  and  direct  their  own  energies  to  suitable  places  where 
the  fulfilment  of  the  desire  is  likely  to  be.  These  are  the 
ministering  angels  of  God,  "  ministering  spirits  sent  forth  to 
minister."  Different  powers  on  the  part  of  the  intelligences 
would  be  required  to  ensure  the  fulfilment  of  different  prayers, 
and  there  are  intelligences  at  different  levels,  a  veritable  Jacob's 
ladder,  on  which  the  angels  of  God  ascend  and  descend,  and 
above  which  stands  the  Lord  Himself.  There  are  regulars  and 
volunteers,  directors  and  guides.  There  may  be  delay  or  im- 
mediate despatch,  as  there  is  down  here,  but  with  the  difference 
that  the  frailties  of  man  do  not  find  any  room  there  in  that 
realm  of  existence. 

Now  there  are  some  prayers  that  are  answered  soon,  some 
late,  some  partly,  some  not  at  all.  The  reason  is  this :  Each 
one  of  us  has  woven  into  his  desire-body  matter  of  the  most 
complicated  character,  pure  and  impure,  and  every  desire  that 
we  generate  adds  to  one  kind  or  the  other  and  makes  that 
stronger.  According  as  one  sort  predominates  over  the  other, 
will  there  be  a  dominant  note  in  the  desire-body  corresponding 
to  it.  There  may  even  be  a  body  without  any  definite  note. 
There  will  be  shades  and  sub-shades  in  varying  degrees  to 
correspond  to  the  complicated  and  multifarious  natures  of  our 
desires.     Any  expression  of  desire  from  such  a  body  will  par- 


372  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

take  of  its  character,  and  will  have  the  definiteness  or  vague- 
ness, the  strength  or  the  weakness  of  the  body.  This  will  ac- 
count for  a  ready  or  a  belated  response.  If  the  expression  is 
definite,  it  is  at  once  understood  and  noted.  If  it  is  a  simple 
one,  it  may  be  easily  attended  to.  If  it  is  complicated,  it  takes 
time.  If  it  is  sent  out  with  a  strength  of  earnestness,  it  im- 
presses sooner.  But  however  strong,  earnest,  and  definite  the 
prayer  may  be,  it  must  be  capable  of  being  answered,  and  the 
adjustment  that  is  required  for  the  fulfilment  of  it  must  be 
possible  in  the  existing  circumstances.  Thus  the  most  earnest 
prayer  of  a  mother  for  the  saving  of  her  child  may  not  be 
answered,  though  noted,  if  the  actions  of  the  mother  or  the 
child  or  the  people  concerned  in  the  matter,  through  one  or 
both  of  them,  have  created  a  state  of  things  which  make  the 
survival  of  the  child  impossible.  The  law  of  action  and  reac- 
tion holds  as  much  on  other  planes  as  on  the  physical.  Forces 
once  set  in  motion  may  be  too  strong  to  be  stopped  by  any 
agency;  they  must  run  out  their  course  and  get  exhausted. 
New  and  opposite  forces  may  modify  but  never  destroy;  and  a 
result  is  always  the  combined  consequence  of  all  the  forces 
brought  into  play.  The  desire-plane  is  as  much  in  the  realm  of 
law  as  any  other.  If  a  prayer  is  not  answered,  it  is  not  because 
there  is  none  to  listen  to  it.  The  man  who  prays  has  bound 
himself  by  his  previous  actions,  and  if  the  net  he  has  spread 
round  himself  is  too  thick  to  be  penetrated,  the  rescue  is  im- 
possible. "Men  are  bound  fast  by  all  they  do"  (Bhagavad 
Gita).  There  is  a  host  of  intelligences  to  help  him  as  much  as 
possible ;  his  prayer  is  never  disregarded ;  it  reaches  the  Highest 
—  Him  without  Whose  knowledge  not  a  sparrow  falleth  to  the 
ground  (Matt.  x.  29).  But  the  law  must  run  its  course. 
None  may  stay  it.  The  Eastern  philosopher  expresses  this  in 
his  law  of  Karma.  As  we  sow,  so  we  reap.  If  a  man  builds 
round  himself  an  impenetrable  wall  of  selfish  desires  and  unholy 
life,  he  has  only  to  thank  himself  if  his  prayers  are  not  heard  in 
his  hour  of  grief.  The  answering  of  a  prayer  may  be  facili- 
tated by  work  on  the  physical  plane,  which  shall  make  the  cir- 
cumstances more  favourable  for  the  answering,  removing  all 
obstacles,  and  directing  objects  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  desired 
result.  In  proportion  to  the  conditions  here  being  made  more 
favourable,  the  answering  will  be  more  favourable  and  perfect. 
In  the  second  class  of  prayers  which  are  expressed  on  the 
mental  plane,  the  conditions  of  being  answered  are  similar  to 
those  for  the  answering  of  the  first  class.     A  definite  clear 


AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  373 

idea,  simple  in  conception,  formed  and  projected  with  one- 
pointedness,  will  get  an  answer  sooner  than  another  which  is 
vague  and  cloudy,  complicated  and  sent  forth  with  a  hesitating 
mind.  There  is  one  main  dift'ercnce  between  the  conditions  of 
the  two  kinds  of  prayer.  In  the  first,  the  expression  and  the 
preparation  are  on  different  planes,  for  the  prayer  and  its  re- 
sults are  on  different  planes;  while  in  the  second  class,  both  the 
expression  and  the  answer  are  on  the  same  plane.  This  creates 
a  peculiarity  of  circumstances  which  works  both  ways.  The 
fulhlment  becomes  more  diflicult  in  some  cases,  easier  in  others. 
This  class  of  prayer  is  for  knowledge,  illumination  of  the  mind, 
and  the  prayer  is  sent  by  the  mental  body  itself.  Any  defect 
in  that  body  afifects  both  the  effort  and  the  circumstances.  It 
weakens  the  cause  and  at  the  same  time  modifies  the  effect 
adversely.  Mind  is  the  most  difficult  thing  to  steady  and 
direct.  "  Subtle,  they  say,  are  the  senses,  yet  subtler  than 
these  is  the  mind  "  (Bhagavad  Gita).  "  Restless  is  the  mind, 
O  Krishna,  headstrong,  powerful,  untiring;  to  restrain  it  seems 
to  me  as  hard  as  to  hold  back  the  wayward  wind  "  (Bhagavad 
Gita).  But  in  proportion  as  the  work  is  more  difficult  on  this 
plane,  the  benefits  are  vaster.  The  effect  is  both  objective  and 
subjecti\'e.  The  prayer  is  answered  objectively  as  in  the  first 
class  of  prayer  by  some  "  angel  appearing  unto  him  from 
heaven,  strengthening  him"  (Luke  xxii.  43).  Some  angelic 
intelligence  sheds  his  intellectual  lustre  on  him ;  the  cloud  of 
doubt  is  cleared;  the  veil  is  suddenly  lifted;  and  like  an  intui- 
tion flashes  upon  his  mind  the  solution  of  his  intellectual  diffi- 
culty. His  prayer  is  answered.  Subjectively,  the  very  act  of 
his  prayer  sets  the  tremendous  forces  of  his  mind  to  work  a 
definite  result,  and  his  mind  gets  more  one-pointed  and  the 
stronger  for  it;  and  as  in  the  case  of  a  mirror,  the  clearer  it  is, 
the  more  truly  does  it  image  the  objects.  So  with  the  mind; 
the  more  orderly  it  is,  the  more  receptive  it  becomes  of  those 
higher  influences  which  are  always  pouring  in  from  above. 
More  light  follows  at  each  successive  effort.  Every  mental 
effort  causes  corresponding  vibrations  in  the  kind  of  matter 
peculiar  to  it.  The  finer  and  the  more  elevated  the  thought, 
the  higher  and  the  superior  is  the  mental  matter  used  for  its 
expression  and  affected  by  it.  The  further  conditions  for  the 
prayer  here  being  answered  are  the  same  as  in  prayer  for  the 
former  class.  A  single  effort  of  the  mind  cannot  at  once  undo 
a  host  of  mental  irregularities  long  rooted  in  the  mind;  and 
however  ready  the  helper  may  be,  he  may  not  be  able  to  illu- 


374  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

minate  the  thick  darkness  existing  for  ages.  A  constant  mental 
exercise  to  give  to  the  mind  steadiness  and  strength  will  clear 
the  way  and  facilitate  both  the  expression  and  the  answering. 
The  higher  and  finer  the  thought,  the  less  is  it  burdened  with 
vulgar  obstacles.  The  aspiring  mind  at  those  levels  at  which 
it  transcends  all  considerations  of  personal  benefit  is  easily 
responded  to.  For  there  is  a  constant  pressure  from  the  spir- 
itual plane  for  greater  expression  down  below,  and  every  noble 
effort  from  below  is  helped  more  readily  from  above,  since  the 
finer  vibrations  from  both  sides  set  up  a  sympathetic  attraction. 
The  Divine  life  from  above  is  always  trying  to  seek  more  and 
more  expression  below.  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock.  If  any  man  hear  my  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  in  to  him  "  (Rev.  iii.  20). 

Before  proceeding  to  the  third  kind  of  prayer  it  will  be  well 
to  consider  here  one  point.  Prayers  of  class  one,  and  of  the 
lower  order  in  class  two,  are  such  as  a  trained  person  can 
formulate  in  a  very  different  way  from  what  we  should  call 
prayer.  He  may  make  a  mere  effort  of  the  will  and  set  up 
forces  which  an  unknowing  and  untrained  mind  will  do  by 
prayer.  He  will  achieve  the  same  results ;  for  it  matters  not 
how  the  causes  are  produced.  It  is  an  exercise  of  the  lower 
mind  and  has  its  sway  over  regions  of  its  own  and  those  below 
it.  I  might  anticipate  a  little,  and  say  that  the  one  difference 
in  the  two  cases  is  in  the  fact  that  where  a  "  prayer  "  is  sent 
up,  it  unconsciously  and  automatically,  by  a  constant  sympathy, 
moves  the  higher  forces  in  the  man.  This  will  always  be  in 
proportion  to  the  purity  of  the  ideals  he  holds,  the  unselfish- 
ness he  breathes  into  his  life,  and  the  fineness  of  the  aspirations 
he  cherishes.  In  concordant  sympathy,  his  finer  bodies  vibrate 
at  each  vibration  in  the  grosser,  however  feebly  it  may  be. 
This  gives  his  expression  a  force  which  is  wanting  in  that  of 
the  man  who  merely  wills  in  the  lower  mind  and  has  no  sym- 
pathy subsisting  between  his  different  bodies.  The  prayer  of  a 
saintly  man  even  for  a  physical  result  will  be  more  effective  as 
the  sympathetic  vibrations  in  all  his  bodies  draw  responses  from 
all  planes,  which  combine  to  precipitate  the  result  on  the  desired 
plane.  It  can  be  easily  understood  how  the  fulfilment  in  such 
a  case  will  be  as  much  free  from  any  attendant  accidental  evils 
as  possible.  The  finer  forces  set  in  motion  cause  by  them- 
selves an  adjustment  of  conditions  which  will  make  the  result 
as  noble  as  possible.  There  are  other  things,  too,  that  dis- 
tinguish the  two  kinds  of  efforts,  depending  upon  the  lives  of 


AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  375 

the  persons  making  the  efforts.  Space  will  not  allow  me  to 
enter  into  those  considerations  here  and  they  are  also  not  es- 
sential for  our  discourse. 

We  go  on  from  this  to  the  next  class  of  prayer,  the  highest. 
There  is  no  asking  here,  no  external  object  to  be  obtained,  no 
external  result  to  be  gained.  It  is  a  meditation,  an  enwrap- 
ping, a  welling-up  within,  a  contact  and  a  union  in  existence 
itself.  It  is  the  opening  of  the  bud  of  the  human  heart  into  full 
blossom  under  the  warmth  of  love.  Its  scent  is  Bliss.  The 
preparation  of  the  individual  for  this  prayer  comes  when  the 
mind  has  transcended  all  differences,  when  it  is  dissatisfied  with 
a  duality  in  essentials.  It  rebels  against  the  bonds  of  limita- 
tion, and  raises  its  hand  to  tear  down  the  veil  that  covers  the 
face  of  the  Beloved.  He  makes  an  offering  of  all  —  worldly 
possessions,  knowledge,  and  aspirations  —  at  the  altar  of  Love, 
and  seeks  only  union,  oneness  with  the  Divine  Will.  This  is 
the  prayer  of  the  Mystic.  The  subject  of  prayer  becomes  one 
with  the  object  of  it.  "  There  is  no  mediate  or  servile  power; 
it  is  dealing  with  real  being,  essence  with  essence  "  (Emerson). 
When  the  individuality  is  lost  in  the  identity;  when  the  man 
recognises  the  rightful  Lord  and  pays  Him  homage,  he  forms 
the  channel  for  the  downflow  of  those  Divine  influences  that 
bathe  the  world  in  the  supreme  passion  of  love.  Who  is 
mightier,  more  beneficent,  more  sustaining,  more  creating,  than 
he  who  stands  between  God  and  His  universe,  a  perfect  willing 
channel  and  means  for  the  working  of  the  Divine  Will  ?  "  Not 
unto. us,  not  unto  us,"  say  the  wisest  men  of  all  ages.  Man 
attains  the  highest  when  he  becomes  the  fullest  expression  of 
the  Divine.  Meditation  is  "  the  ardent  turning  of  the  soul 
towards  the  Divine ;  not  to  ask  for  any  particular  good,  but  for 
good  itself,  for  the  universal  supreme  good  "  (Plato). 

All  prayers  are  expressions  of  love.  Creation  itself  is  an 
expression  of  love.  The  creative  and  created  energy  throbs 
with  the  longing  for  a  fuller  and  fuller  expression,  struggles 
to  transcend  all  limitations,  yearns  to  embrace  the  whole,  to  be 
itself  and  nothing  beyond.  Our  limitations  make  them  pleas- 
ures and  pains,  as  we  feel  the  different  measure  of  each.  The 
most  heinous  crime  has  a  grain  of  reality,  a  particle  of  Divine 
truth;  and  every  criminal  life  has  a  redeeming  feature,  a  silver 
lining  to  its  sombre  body.  Our  limitations  cloud  the  virtue 
of  existence  from  us,  and  life  becomes  a  struggle.  God  is 
Love,  and  unto  Himself  draws  all  His  children  along  the  path 
of  self-realisation.     Every  longing  of  the  human  heart  is  an 


376  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

effort  at  self-expression;  every  wish  a  drawing  upwards, 
whether  it  be  the  love  of  wealth,  the  love  of  power,  the  love  of 
man  for  man,  the  love  of  knowledge,  or.  the  love  of  love  itself. 
Man's  existence,  although  it  may  be  for  a  time  turning  to  the 
right  or  to  the  left,  sometimes  proceeding  forwards,  some- 
times falling  backwards,  persists  in  a  constant  flow  onwards,  a 
streaming  onwards  slow  but  sure  to  that  one  Divine  goal  in 
which  the  Divine  spark  in  man  blazes  forth  into  the  all-consum- 
ing Love  and  the  limited  existence  expands  into  the  Universal : 

Draw  if  thou  canst  the  mystic  line, 
Severing  rightly  mine  from  thine, 
Which  is  human,  which  divine. 

Emerson. 

The  value  of  prayer  to  the  nation  and  to  the  individual  is 
great.  Every  prayer  is  an  outflow  of  the  Divine  pulse. 
It  creates  a  channel  and  fills  the  atmosphere  with  radia- 
tions of  love  into  which  will  breathe  the  lesser  beings  and  find 
a  fuller  expression  themselves.  It  makes  the  individual  and 
the  nation.  While  it  lifts  every  man  above  his  daily  level,  it 
also  softens  the  social  atmosphere  and  creates  a  force  which, 
multiplied  sufficiently,  will  raise  the  whole  nation  to  a  higher 
and  nobler  state  of  existence.  In  its  striving  after  something 
loftier,  it  refines  the  morals  and  sharpens  the  intellect.  In 
the  desire  for  a  fuller  expression  it  strengthens  the  bond  of 
fellowship  and  fosters  that  love  of  the  country  and  its  people 
which  we  call  patriotism,  without  the  base  admixture  of  a 
personal  ambition  or  a  national  jealousy. 

The  greatest  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  been 
epochs  of  religious  revival.  Beneath  the  passions  of  the  war- 
ring nations  we  may  easily  trace  the  flow  of  a  finer  passion,  a 
religious  impulse  which  is  to  transform  the  world  so  that  it 
may  be  more  true  to  itself.  The  soul  is  in  earnest  then.  It 
feels  its  Divine  life  which  in  its  way  outwards  tears  and  throws 
up  the  crust  of  superstition,  of  custom,  of  the  rigidity  of  life. 
With  all  its  upheavals,  its  storms,  its  cataclysms,  it  is  a  Divine 
pulsation.  When  the  intellect  is  debased,  the  morals  stand 
forth  in  rebellion  as  the  guardians  of  the  human  soul ; 
"  for  the  heart  has  its  arguments,  with  which  the  understanding 
is  not  acquainted."  With  the  debasing  of  morals,  the  intellect 
falls :  love  is  the  remedy  for  all  social  evils,  social  degradation, 
political  tvranny,  superstition  and  ignorance.  Love  purifies 
all  with  the  warmth  of  its  intensity  and  the  harmony  of  its 
peace. 


AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  377 

Prayers  sought  for  the  warding  off  of  a  personal  or  national 
calamity  effect  their  purpose  to  the  degree  of  their  efforts. 
But,  as  in  the  case  of  an  individual,  so  in  that  of  a  nation,  there 
is  the  national  Karma.     The  nation  lives  in  the  atmosphere  of 
its  ancestors;  its  life  flows  according  to  the  measure  of  those 
who  have  lived  in  it.     Every  individual  has  his  general  health 
of  body  and  mind  above  all  peculiarities  and  idiosyncrasies. 
Every  family,  every  tribe,  has  its  traits  apart  from  the  charac- 
ters of  its  individuals.     So  has  every  nation  a  character  apart 
from  that  of  each  individual  composing  it,  in  which  each  indi- 
vidual shares  more  or  less.     The  action  is  reflex.     The  in- 
dividuals together  make  the  nation ;  the  nation  makes  the  indi- 
vidual.    And  just  as,  however  earnest  the  prayer  of  an  indi- 
vidual may  be,  his  Karma  modifies  it,  so  is  it  with  the  nation. 
The  national   Karma   stands   similarly   related  to  a   national 
prayer.     Every  individual  in  the  nation  is  responsible  for  the 
national  atmosphere,  that  embodiment  of  its  collective  thought 
and  collective  feeling  that  may  make  impossible  the  answering 
of  a  national  prayer.     And  what  is  true  of  the  individual  and 
the  nation  is  true  for  the  whole  of  humanity.     Humanity  is 
a  unit,  and  the  act  of  every  being  in  it  helps  or  hinders  the 
progress  of  the  whole.     A  little  pain  in  the  finger  or  the  toe 
disturbs  the  quiet  of  the  mind  and  makes  the  body  restless. 
Whatever  each  nation  may  be  thinking  or  feeling  in  its  self- 
sufficiency  as  to  its  place  in  the  sun  or  its  being  the  chosen  of 
God,  so  long  as  the  chains  of  human  fabrication  burden  the 
limbs  of  a  single  individual,  or  the  dark  clouds  of  ignorance 
blacken  the  heart  of  even  one  life,  so  long  is  humanity  unre- 
deemed and  the  taint  of  crime  and  ignorance  is  on  its  head. 

The  effect  of  prayer  is  most  marked  when  it  is  sent  up  by  a 
concourse  of  people,  as  in  a  church.  The  whole  air  becomes 
charged  with  a  vitality,  the  combined  effect  of  the  will  of  the 
whole  gathering,  which  is  far  greater  than  what  may  be  pro- 
duced by  individuals  scattered  over  great  (distances.  The 
mutual  influences  due  to  proximity  tend  to  a  harmony  of  vibra- 
tions, and  the  place  chosen,  if  rightly  so  done,  strengthens  the 
harmony  by  its  own  vibrations.  This  is  why,  when  people 
combine  thus,  results  have  been  achieved  beyond  all  expecta- 
tion. This  is  also  the  reason  why.  when  a  mob  with  one  dom- 
inant feeling  gathers  in  a  favourable  spot  which  responds  to 
that  feeling,  it  is  in  a  most  sensitive  state,  and  the  smallest  inci- 
dent acts  like  a  match  to  a  store  of  gunpowder.  This  ex- 
plains the  value  of  the  mass  in  the  Christian  Church.     Every 


378  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

such  event  further  adds  to  the  character  of  the  place,  and 
strengthens  its  individuality.  Every  church,  every  public  place 
in  which  people  gather  with  some  definite  purpose,  is  endowed 
with  a  note  which  it  always  sounds,  and  a  sensitive  visitor  will 
feel  it  in  its  atmosphere.  Slaughter-houses,  places  of  murder, 
are  like  dark  spots  upon  earth,  whence  emanate  coarsest  vibra- 
tions which  excite  animal  passions  in  man  and  incite  him  to 
crime.  All  related  to  these  places,  however  distantly,  share  in 
the  vibration  and  the  responsibility.  Holy  places,  churches, 
places  of  pilgrimage,  institutions  for  the  charitable  helping  of 
man,  are  the  bright  centres  which  radiate  joy  and  health. 
These  spots  are  the  links  between  the  Divine  and  the  human, 
centres  in  which  the  highest  in  man  accumulates  for  the  benefit 
of  the  present  and  the  future. 

When  the  heart  is  pure  the  intellect  is  keen.  In  moments 
of  prayer  the  highest  in  man  comes  forth.  Prayer  is  the  em- 
bodiment of  the  highest  aspirations,  the  noblest  feelings. 
When  the  heart  is  purged  of  all  vulgar  considerations  and  the 
mind  is  bent  on  the  one  object  of  contemplation,  all  the  out- 
going energy  of  human  life  is  directed  in  the  channel  of  its  one 
immediate  object.  Each  achievement  lends  its  strength  to  the 
aspiring  soul.  Self-confidence  engendered  by  success  Hfts  the 
soul  above  its  level.  If  prayer  is  rightly  understood,  disap- 
pointment will  not  be  looked  upon  as  a  failure,  but  as  the  result 
of  forces  already  in  existence  and  merely  modified  by  the  im- 
mediate efforts.  Far  from  its  distracting  the  heart,  it  will 
strengthen  it  to  mightier  efiforts  in  the  future.  Where  the  law 
is  known  and  the  footsteps  of  the  traveller  are  guided  by 
knowledge,  failure  loses  its  sting.  It  becomes  an  in- 
formant, a  warning,  a  goad  to  greater  exertions.  Eternal  hope 
and  certainty  of  achievement  purify  the  human  passions,  im- 
patient of  immediate  expression,  and  lend  to  men  the  beauty 
and  grandeur  of  Divinity.  Aspirations  become  finer  and 
nobler.  The  ideals  of  life  rise  higher  and  higher;  the  lower 
nature  is  suppressed  and  transmuted.  The  love  of  self  ex- 
pands into  the  lore  of  mankind,  and  loses  itself  in  the  love  of 
all.  Desires  become  purified  of  all  personal  element,  and  the 
one  desire  to  do  the  will  of  the  Divine  predominates.  Petty 
jealousies,  envy,  and  spite  are  forced  out,  and  the  one  constant 
feeling  is  of  bliss,  of  joy  in  peace  of  soul,  and  in  others'  happi- 
ness. While  on  the  one  hand  the  knowledge  of  the  law  helps 
a  man  to  sustain  himself  in  difficulties  and  to  balance  himself 
in  joy  and  success,  that  knowledge  in  turn  shows  him  the  true 


AN  ORIENTAL  CONCEPTION  379 

path  of  service  and  the  right  means  of  assistance.  He  avoids 
the  dangers  of  1)Hnd  guidance,  and  prevents  wastage  of  energy 
in  wrong  directions.  What  human  expression  can  be  higher 
and  truer  than  that  which  Hghts  the  path  and  lends  eternal  hope 
and  certainty  of  achievement?  What  more  Divine  than  prayer 
which  transmutes  the  lower  into  the  higher,  the  brutal  into  the 
godly,  and  seateth  man  on  the  right  hand  of  God  in  His  own 
house  ? 


XVIII 

PRAYER  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE 
DIVINE  IMMANENCE 

BY 

PANDIT  BISHAN  DASS,  B.A. 

GOVERNMENT    HIGH     SCHOOL,     HOSHIARHPUR,    INDIA 


XVIII 

PRAYER  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  DIVINE 

IMMANENCE 

Regard  always  and  most  earnestly  your  own  soul,  for  through  your 
own  soul  a  light  will  come  to  you  which  shall  illuminate  your  liie 
and  make  your  existence  a  paradise.  You  are  sent  to  this  earth 
for  a  nmch  higher  purpose  than  you  imagine  at  present.  When  you 
are  led  by  the  Spirit  you  will  understand  how  beautiful  your  life  is, 
but  not  till  then. 

The  entire  realm  of  nature  is  pervaded  by  a  Spirit  that  rules, 
regulates,  and  shapes  it  everywhere.  From  the  electron  to  the 
highest  organism  in  the  universe  all  are  pemieated  by  this 
Spirit  and  have  their  life  and  being  in  Him. 

In  prayer  man  brings  himself  into  tune  with  this  indwelling 
spirit  of  nature  and  thus  opens  himself  to  the  strength,  courage, 
and  wisdom  that  flow  from  this  communion.  Prayer  is  a 
heart  to  heart  talk  with  God.  The  more  devoted,  sinless,  and 
sincere  the  worshipper,  the  greater  nearness  he  shall  attain  in 
his  interview  and  the  closer  relation  he  shall  gain  with  the 
Deity.  It  is  through  prayer  that  man  succeeds  in  attaining  to 
that  celestial  region  of  his  nature  in  which  he  is  taught  directly 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  —  a  knowledge  which  makes  his  existence 
a  paradise.  "  He  attains  to  the  image  of  God  in  proportion  as 
he  comprehends  the  nature  of  God,"  It  is  a  means  of  man's 
real  salvation. 

I.  Whence  Does  it  Flow? 

Man  has  three  mental  principles  or  sub-divisions  of  mind. 
First  there  is  that  which  is  known  as  the  instinctive  mind,  which 
is  the  storehouse  of  all  animal  passions  and  desires.  Passions 
of  hate,  envy,  jealousy  all  have  their  base  in  this  part  of  our 
nature.  Next  to  this  in  order  is  the  intellect  or  reasoning 
faculty,  by  which  we  discriminate  truth  from  falsehood.  The 
third  or  highest  principle  is  the  spiritual  mind,  which  is  the 
source  of  inspiration,  genius,  and  spirituality.     It  is  from  this 

383 


384  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

part  of  our  nature  that  all  the  noblest  thoughts  flow.  True 
religious  feeling,  love,  mercy,  humanity,  and  justice  all  flow 
from  this  spiritual  mind.  The  knowledge  of  the  great  truths 
of  nature  also  reaches  us  through  this  channel.  Our  deepest 
emotional  feelings  of  love  and  devotion,  which  bring  us  nearer 
to  God,  flow  from  this.  The  aim  and  object  of  prayer  is  the 
proper  unfoldment  of  this  spiritual  mind.  The  deepest  feel- 
ings which  enliven  our  nature,  or  inspire  the  pages  of  the  best 
poets  and  writers  of  the  world,  have  invariably  proceeded  from 
their  spiritual  mind.  In  prayer  we  make  use  of  this  part  of 
our  nature,  as  it  is  by  the  opening  of  this  channel  that  we 
realise  our  true  kinship  with  the  Divine  Spirit. 

11.  Powers  of  Spiritual  Mind 

With  the  proper  unfoldment  of  his  spiritual  mind  man  will 
realise  that  he  is  a  child  of  the  absolute,  possessed  of  the  Divine 
heritage.  We  are  in  closest  touch  with  all  that  has  proceeded 
from  the  absolute.  The  matter  of  which  our  bodies  are  made 
is  in  touch  with  all  matter,  as  we  draw  upon  it  throughout  our 
life,  and  just  as  the  vital  force  used  by  us  is  in  touch  with  all 
energy  so  our  mind  is  in  touch  with  all  mind-substance.  Each 
ego  is  a  centre  of  consciousness  in  this  great  ocean  of  spirit. 
and  each  is  a  real  self.  With  the  expansion  of  man's  real 
self  which  comes  through  prayer,  man  will  find  that  the  uni- 
verse is  his  home,  and  he  will  experience  a  sense  of  greatness 
and  broadness  hitherto  unknown  and  undreamt  of  by  him. 

The  study  of  the  human  mind  is  daily  awakening  us  to  the 
wonderful  nature  of  the  latent  powers  of  the  soul.  The 
maxim,  "  Know  thyself,"  has  now  a  wider  meaning  to  us  than 
before.  The  scriptural  saying  that  man  was  made  "  in  the 
image  of  God  "  is  an  index  to  the  great  capabilities  of  soul. 
Modern  science  is  just  exploring  some  of  these  capabilities. 
The  influence  of  mind-power  in  personal  magnetism,  mental 
healing,  mental  telepathy,  induced  imagination,  has  begun 
to  be  widely  recognised,  even  in  scientific  circles.  Advanced 
souls  are  realising  that  we  are  all  living  in  a  great  ocean  of 
mind-power  wherein  the  waves  of  mentative  currents  are  pass- 
ing on  all  sides.  The  vibrational  activity  set  up  in  our  mind 
at  a  time  of  deep  and  earnest  sentiment  passes  on  its  vibrations 
to  this  ocean  of  mind-power,  producing  currents  or  waves 
which  travel  on  until  they  reach  the  minds  of  other  individuals, 
who  receive  them  as  if  by  induction.     Thus  our  religious  in- 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  385 

fluence  passes  on  to  other  people  who  are  receptive  to  our  feel- 
ings. Just  as  this  mentative  current  passes  on  to  other  people, 
so  prayer,  which  is  an  earnest  desire-force  emanating  from  a 
worshipper,  acts  upon  the  universal  mind-power  which  sends  a 
response  to  the  same. 

III.  How  IS  THE  Power  of  Prayer  Obtained? 

We  see  that  all  the  powers  of  the  human  soul  are  developed 
by  means  of  concentration,  which  consists  in  the  fact  of  the 
mind  focussing  itself  upon  a  certain  subject  or  object  and  being 
held  there  for  a  time.  This  focussing  of  the  mind  brings  will- 
power to  a  centre.  Mind  is  concentrated  because  the  will  is 
focussed  upon  a  certain  object.  The  history  of  the  discoveries 
of  science  will  reveal  the  fact  that  all  discoveries  were  made  by 
men  of  deep  insight  at  a  time  of  intense  concentration,  when 
the  discoverer  forgot  his  personality  and  sank  himself  in  the 
desired  result.  It  was  at  such  moments  of  deep  absorption  that 
the  desired  truth  flashed  upon  the  mind  of  the  discoverer. 
Meanwhile  the  discoverer  placed  himself  in  an  attitude  of  open 
receptivity,  making  himself  free  from  all  kinds  of  thoughts 
and  allowing  the  inner  spirit  to  cast  its  influence  freely.  He 
opened  the  windows  of  his  soul  to  the  light  coming  from  within, 
and  it  was  in  this  passive  attitude  that  the  desired  truth 
dawned  upon  his  mind.  What  we  call  genius  is  the  result 
of  deep  concentration.  When  the  rays  of  the  physical  sun 
are  focussed  at  a  point  their  intensity  increases  and  the  heat 
is  sufficient  to  burn  a  piece  of  wood  or  evaporate  water.  The 
same  is  the  case  with  the  human  mind.  If  the  rays  of  the 
spiritual  sun  are  allowed  to  focus  themselves  upon  the  glass  of 
the  mind,  these  enable  us  to  achieve  results  w'hich  are  simply 
marvellous.  The  law  for  the  religious  man  and  the  scientist 
is  the  same.  Both  receive  their  light  from  the  same  source  and 
by  the  same  means,  though  they  differ  in  the  use  which  they 
make  of  this  light.  The  scientist  uses  this  light  thus  received 
for  the  study  of  external  nature  or  phenomena,  while  the  re- 
ligious man  uses  it  for  the  illumination  of  his  spiritual  self  and 
the  attainment  of  heavenly  bliss,  i.e.  his  salvation. 

To  pray  for  material  blessings  or  worldly  ends  is  useless, 
and  shows  want  of  confidence  in  the  Infinite  Wisdom  of  God. 
We  should  understand  that  He  knows  more  of  our  real  needs, 
and  should  have  faith  that  He  will  never  suft'er  His  devotee  to 
perish.     To  expect  an  all-wase  Providence  to  meddle  with  the 


386  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

trifling  affairs  of  our  life  and  to  minister  to  our  narrow  and 
selfish  wishes  is  really  a  mockery.  What  we  need  to  learn  most 
is  a  deep  confidence  in  the  benevolence  of  the  Creator.  All 
things  that  are  good  or  really  useful  for  our  welfare  will  of 
themselves  gravitate  to  us  if  we  learn  the  way  of  assuming  a 
receptive  attitude  to  receive  the  Divine  blessings.  For  the  law 
is :  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness ; 
and  all  else  shall  be  added  unto  you."  It  is  thus  written  be- 
cause it  is  thus  in  life. 

The  following  lines  from  Emerson,  who  realised  this  truth, 
will  make  the  subject  clear  enough:  "  Prayer  that  craves  a 
particular  commodity,  or  anything  less  than  all  good,  is  vicious. 
Prayer  is  the  contemplation  of  the  facts  of  life  from  the  high- 
est point  of  view.  It  is  the  soliloquy  of  a  beholding  and  jubi- 
lant soul.  It  is  the  Spirit  of  God  pronouncing  His  works 
good.  But  prayer  as  a  means  to  effect  a  private  end  is 
meanness  and  theft.  It  supposes  dualism  and  not  unity  in 
nature  and  consciousness.  As  soon  as  man  is  at  one  with  God 
he  will  not  beg.  He  will  then  see  prayer  in  all  action.  The 
prayer  of  the  farmer  kneeling  in  the  field  to  weed  it,  the  prayer 
of  the  rower  kneeling  with  the  stroke  of  his  oar  are  true  prayers 
heard  throughout  nature,  though  for  cheap  ends." 

When  we  learn  to  walk  with  God  we  see  nature  yielding 
to  our  earnest  wishes  as  easily  as  a  tender  mother  yields  to  the 
wishes  of  her  innocent  child.  Instead  of  pressing  our  small 
needs  upon  all-wise  Divinity  we  shall  learn  the  way  of  being  at 
one  with  the  source  of  all  light  and  power  to  attain  all  that  is 
needed  for  our  welfare.  No  words  need  be  uttered  in  prayer, 
as  God  does  not  need  to  be  spoken  to  in  words.  When  the 
finite  mind  calls  to  the  infinite,  the  message  is  heard  and  under- 
stood at  once.  We  imagine  God  to  be  far  off,  but  He  is  very 
close  to  us,  provided  that  we  remove  the  barriers  erected  by 
our  narrowness.  God  is  not  a  despot  who  likes  the  prostration 
of  a  subject.  He  is  all  love,  and  it  is  through  love  that  we 
approach  Him  best. 

IV.  Man's  Failure 

Man  has  dwarfed  his  nature  by  setting  his  affections  on  the 
things  of  matter  and  by  confining  his  mind  to  the  objects  of 
the  senses.  He  has  stunted  his  progress  by  identifying  him- 
self with  the  material  things  of  this  world. 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  387 


V.  Doctrine  of  Interposition 

The  true  object  of  prayer  is  not  the  upsetting  of  the  laws  of 
the  universe,  which  is  guided  and  controlled  by  a  moral  law. 
No  saint  or  seer  ever  designed  to  act  against  the  Divine  Will, 
which  is  another  name  for  natural  law.  The  object  of  prayer 
is  rather  the  development  of  a  spirit  of  calm  resignation  to 
the  Divine  Will.  "  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven  "  is  the  motto  of  a  good  soul  in  prayer.  We  pray  to 
be  blessed  with  a  spirit  of  heroic  endurance  to  all  that  befalls 
us  from  the  Most  High.  "  Great  souls,"  says  Carlyle,  "  are 
always  loyally  submissive  to  what  is  over  them.  Only  small, 
mean  souls  are  otherwise."  They  understand  things  in  their 
right  relations ;  hence  they  do  not  fill  their  prayers  with  vain 
regrets  or  lamentations,  which  is  always  the  work  of  mean 
souls. 

Divine  help  in  response  to  human  prayer  does  not  come  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  nature,  but  always  in  their  fulfilment. 
But  we  ought  to  take  the  term  law  of  nature  in  a  broad  sense 
and  not  limit  its  scope  to  the  present  experience  of  mankind. 
Laws  of  nature,  as  interpreted  by  a  modern  scientific  man,  are 
limited  in  their  significance  to  the  knowledge  obtained  by  the 
present  methods  of  observation  and  experimental  judgement. 
External  methods  do  not  go  far  enough  and  certainly  cannot 
cover  the  entire  field  of  nature.  The  present  knowledge  of 
science  is  based  upon  the  observation  of  certain  facts,  but  when 
other  facts  come  in,  the  law  or  the  statement  of  them  gradually 
fades  away  and  fresh  laws  or  statements  to  them  have  to  be 
framed.  The  old  generalisations  are  dropped  and  new  ones 
are  formed.  The  method  of  present-day  science  is  a  method 
of  abstraction.  Facts  of  nature  are  studied  in  an  isolated 
fashion  which  vitiates  the  conclusion.  One  side  of  the  facts 
is  seen ;  change  the  position  and  a  mere  glance  at  the  other  side 
will  chancre  the  conclusion.  That  this  has  been  so  is  evident 
from  the  history  of  each  science. 

The  knowledge  of  intuitive  faculty  and  cosmic  conscious- 
ness, when  fully  understood  by  man,  will  revolutionise  the  en- 
tire range  of  human  thought  and  will  enable  him  to  gain  much 
wider  dominion  over  nature  than  he  holds  at  present.  That 
such  knowledge  has  been  in  the  possession  of  all  great  leaders 
of  faith  is  evidenced  by  their  lives  and  works.  But  miracles  do 
not  prove  a  truth.     They  simply  show  that  they  are  natural 


388  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

effects  of  exceptional  causes.  They  may  indeed  be  a  proof  of 
the  occult  power  or  exceptional  skill  of  a  worker,  but  they  do 
not  convince  mankind,  which  should  be  approached  through 
reason  or  argument.  They  simply  show  that  the  man  who 
worked  them  had  realised  his  oneness  with  the  source  of  all 
Wisdom  and  Power,  and  this  made  it  possible  for  him  to  show 
extraordinary  feats  of  his  control  over  nature.  People  will 
call  these  feats  miracles,  as  they  are  beyond  the  limit  of  their 
personal  experience.  But  when  they  grow  in  spiritual  power 
they  will  realise  that  these  feats  can  be  performed  by  every  one 
who  puts  himself  in  that  direction. 

A  man  has  no  hand  in  the  shaping  of  his  organism  at  birth, 
but  let  him  have  opportunity  to  develop  his  finer  forces  and  he 
will  be  able  entirely  to  change  his  surroundings.  His  parents 
may  be  agriculturists,  but  he  may  become  a  musician  or  a  liter- 
ary genius  according  to  his  development.  This  often  happens 
in  this  wide  world.  The  biological  assertion  that  function  pre- 
cedes organism  may  be  supplemented  by  another  statement  that 
desire  precedes  function.  It  is  true  that  no  animal  digests 
food  before  it  acquires  a  stomach,  or  is  sensitive  to  light  before 
it  develops  eyes,  but,  before  digesting  food,  an  animal  has  a 
desire  to  eat,  and  a  wish  to  see  before  it  is  sensitive  to  light. 
Thus  it  is  clear  that  desire  precedes  an  organism  everywhere 
in  creation,  and  will  precedes  an  action. 

Free  will  and  moral  responsibility  go  together.  Divest  man 
of  the  former  and  you  cannot  accuse  him  of  any  transgression. 
So  long  as  man  is  free  to  choose  between  good  and  evil  he  is 
responsible  for  his  sins  and  thus  he  is  liable  to  punishment. 
That  no  power  compels  him  to  do  evil  is  the  experience  of 
every  human  being.  By  admitting  that  circumstances  alone 
govern  our  life  or  shape  our  destiny  we  divest  man  of  free 
will,  which  is  the  greatest  fact  of  his  life. 

Prayer  is  the  chief  instrument  to  develop  will-power,  as  it 
brings  the  human  mind  into  tune  with  the  sources  of  Infinite 
Strength.  If  man  had  no  free  will,  prayer  would  be  useless 
and  man  would  remain  tied  to  the  environment  in  which  he  was 
placed  by  chance  or  co-ordination  of  circumstances. 

No  prayer  is  really  effective  without  self -surrender  on  the 
part  of  a  worshipper.  People  often  pray  to  God,  but  they  fail 
to  get  a  response,  as  they  are  unable  to  bring  themselves  into 
an  attitude  of  receptivity.  The  human  mind  should  assume  a 
passive  condition  in  order  to  receive  the  holy  influences  emanat- 
ing from  the  Divinity  within.     While  praying  to  God,  man 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  389 

should  surrender  his  entire  self  to  Him  and  then  wait  for  a 
response,  which  is  certain  to  follow  immediately.  Prayer  is 
not  flattery ;  rather  it  teaches  man  to  partake  of  the  Divine 
virtues  of  love,  charity,  and  l)enevolence.  Good  men  do  not 
pray  to  change  Divine  decrees  or  laws.  They  rather  pray  to 
be  in  tune  with  the  Great  Spirit  Whose  will  those  laws  express, 
so  that,  being  in  harmony  with  those  laws,  they  may  enjoy 
heavenly  blessings.  In  remembering  the  holy  attributes  of 
God,  our  soul  ascends  to  the  celestial  regions  in  which  Divine 
love  and  goodness  reign  and  sorrow  is  no  more  seen.  Prayer 
strengthens  character  and  softens  the  blows  of  life.  It  pre- 
pares the  human  mind  to  bear  all  blows  patiently  and  without 
grumbling.  When  man  brings  himself  into  harmony  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  he  will  no  longer  feel  pain,  or  misery,  and  will 
enter  into  a  realm  of  joy. 

All  growth  is  from  within.  Plants,  animals,  and  men  all 
grow  from  within.  Life  is  sustained  by  the  drawing  in  of 
congenial  matter  and  by  the  expulsion  of  foreign  matter.  The 
law  that  like  attracts  like  is  found  in  all  nature.  Our  mind 
always  attracts  those  thoughts  which  are  akin  to  our  own,  and 
resists  or  repels  those  which  are  opposed  to  our  mental  con- 
stitution. This  law  is  working  throughout  the  universe, 
whether  we  are  conscious  of  it  or  not.  The  mental  atmosphere 
around  us  is  full  of  all  sorts  of  thought-forces  from  which  we 
attract  only  those  which  are  akin  to  our  nature.  If  you  are 
gloomy,  sad,  full  of  worry  and  vexation,  you  are  sure  to  at- 
tract similar  thoughts  from  the  astral  world  all  around  you, 
which  will  make  you  sadder  and  more  gloomy.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  you  are  confident,  hopeful,  and  cheerful,  you  will  at- 
tract similar  thoughts  from  the  astral  atmosphere,  and  your 
confidence  and  cheerfulness  will  be  enhanced  day  by  day.  All 
elements  necessary  for  your  success  will  thus  gravitate  to  you 
of  themselves.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  all  those  noble  teach- 
ings of  Christ,  wherein  He  instructs  us  to  return  good  for  evil, 
to  forgive  our  enemies,  to  do  good  to  those  who  hate  us,  as,  by 
being  positive  to  all  evil,  our  nature  shall  become  free  from  all 
kinds  of  wicked  conceptions.  By  ceasing  to  return  evil  we 
shall  cease  to  harbour  revenge  in  our  minds  and  to  attract  evil 
thoughts  from  the  astral  atmosphere.  If  we  are  full  of  love 
for  all  beings  we  shall  multiply  forces  of  goodness  and  draw  to 
ourselves  all  the  elements  of  goodness  from  the  atmosphere. 
This  being  the  law  of  our  growth,  nothing  is  more  useful  in 
building  up  character  than  to  come  into  hannony  with  a  power 


390  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

which  is  the  source  of  all  wisdom  and  strength.  It  is  in  vain 
to  look  in  external  nature  for  this  light,  for  "  The  kingdom  of 
God  cometh  not  with  observation.  Neither  shall  they  say,  Lo 
here,  nor  Lo  there.  For  lo,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within 
you."  It  is  a  grand  truth  uttered  by  Christ,  and  it  is  by  the 
vivid  realisation  of  this  truth  that  wisdom  and  success  can  be 
achieved.  The  more  we  come  in  touch  with  this,  the  happier 
our  life  becomes.  The  more  we  recede  from  this,  the  more 
narrow,  gloomy,  dark,  and  limited  we  become.  For  this  pur- 
pose prayer  is  the  chief  means  and  the  royal  road  to  the 
fountain-head  of  infinite  wisdom  and  power. 

The  universe  finds  its  correct  interpreter  in  a  truly  en- 
lightened soul,  who  sees  things  in  their  right  relations  and  reads 
all  workings  of  nature  in  their  true  connections.  He  sees  the 
whole,  not  a  part,  and  interprets  the  part  with  a  knowledge 
applicable  to  the  whole.  He  sees  that  the  spiritual  law  governs 
the  world  and  that  what  we  see  as  material  forces  are  simply 
spiritual,  working  on  the  plane  of  matter.  So  he  does  not 
pray  for  anything  which  is  not  conducive  to  the  good  of  the 
whole.  He  knows  that  any  benefit  which  accrues  to  him  a' 
the  expense  of  others  is  no  benefit  but  a  distinct  loss.  He  does 
not  deceive  or  cheat  his  fellows  for  his  personal  good,  a 
learns  that  any  wrong  done  to  his  brother  will  be  a  wrong  tr. 
his  own  self.  He  hates  none,  as  he  understands  that  by  hating 
others  he  will  spoil  his  own  nature.  What  is  not  good  for  the 
whole  will  never  be  imag:ined  or  attempted  by  him.  He  real- 
ises that  every  cup  of  water  wrested  from  the  hands  of  his 
brother  is  a  cup  of  poison,  and  every  morsel  of  food  snatched 
from  his  fellow  is  a  morsel  of  arsenic.  So  he  will  love  all 
beings  and  devote  his  personality  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole. 
This  is  true  democracy,  and  comes  to  man  when  he  realises  his 
relation  with  the  indwelling  Spirit. 

Finding  all  efforts  to  seek  happiness  in  his  surroundings 
futile,  man  understands  his  mistake  and  realises  that  external 
circumstances  can  never  give  true  happiness  and  that  he  has 
been  on  the  wrong  track.  No  unalloyed  happiness  can  be  had 
in  things  of  this  world  and  it  is  simply  foolish  to  seek  it  there. 
Then  he  retraces  his  steps  and  proceeds  to  seek  it  within  his 
own  heart.  With  this  search  religion  begins,  as  its  first  prin- 
ciple is  renunciation  of  external  things.  The  well-known  say- 
ing of  Christ:  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon,"  is  quite 
true.  If  you  centre  your  affections  in  Mammon,  you  cannot 
attain  unto  God.     In  order  to  attain  true  happiness,  man  should 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  391 

forsake  Mammon-worship  and  centre  his  affections  on  the 
things  of  the  soul.  No  joy  can  be  found  in  things  of  matter. 
Joy  is  a  spiritual  feeling  and  can  be  found  only  in  ecstasy  of 
communion  with  the  Divine  Spirit. 

Men  often  say  that  they  have  a  soul,  but  most  know  nothing 
of  this  and  cannot  realise  anything  about  the  most  essential  part 
of  their  existence.  The  practice  of  prayer,  if  continued,  will 
open  man's  spiritual  consciousness  and  will  make  him  con- 
scious of  a  wonderful  truth  never  yet  experienced  by  him  — 
that  he  is  a  soul  rather  than  that  he  possesses  a  soul.  IMan 
realises  that  he  is  an  immortal,  spiritual  being.  This  knowl- 
edge does  not  come  to  him  as  a  matter  of  faith,  hope,  or 
religious  belief.  It  comes  as  con.sciousness,  or  direct  knowing 
—  beyond  the  possibility  of  intellectual  reasoning.  It  cannot 
be  explained  in  any  words  to  a  man  who  has  not  himself  ex- 
perienced it  as  we  cannot  explain  sugar  to  a  man  wdio  has  never 
tasted  it.  With  the  coming  of  this  knowdedge,  fear  of  death, 
w^orry  of  life,  feelings  of  regret  and  grief  cease  for  ever. 
Man's  mental  constitution  is  altogether  changed  and  he  becomes 
a  new  being.  Time  has  no  meaning  to  him.  Distance  ceases 
to  appal  him,  for  all  eternity  is  now  open  to  him.  Lord  Tenny- 
son relates  a  strange  experience  of  this  knowledge  in  the  fol- 
lowing beautiful  words: 

"  This  has  often  come  upon  me  through  repeating  my  own 
name  to  myself  silently  till  all  at  once,  as  it  were,  out  of  the 
intensity  of  the  consciousness  of  individuality  the  individuality 
itself  seemed  to  dissolve  and  fade  away  into  boundless  being, 
and  this  not  a  confused  state  but  the  clearest  of  the  clearest, 
surest  of  the  surest,  utterly  beyond  words;  here  death  was  al- 
most a  laughable  impossibility,  the  loss  of  personality  (if  so  it 
were),  seeming  no  extinction,  but  the  only  true  life." 

This  consciousness  comes  to  man  by  meditating  upon  the  real 
self  in  communion.  This  realisation  will  surround  man  with 
a  thought-aura  of  strength  and  power.  He  will  appear  to 
others  full  of  confidence  and  respect,  and  will  be  able  to  look 
the  world  in  the  face. 

The  present  system  of  society  throughout  the  world  is  based 
upon  force.  Men  need  jails  and  laws  of  forfeiture  to  guard 
the  power  of  force.  Narrow  and  limited  in  their  views  of  life, 
they  are  too  used  to  these  ideas  to  imagine  a  possible  system 
which  may  override  the  power  of  force,  or  do  away  with  it. 
Men  have  too  little  faith  in  the  pow-er  of  love  to  try  it  as  a 
basis  of  society.     They  are  afraid  that  it  wdll  upset  all  their 


392  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

favourite  institutions.  But  it  should  be  noted  that  with  the 
entry  of  man  into  the  domain  of  love,  human  society  will  move 
in  sympathy  with  the  moral  law  of  nature.  It  will  work  as 
harmoniously  as  the  solar  system  works,  without  any  necessity 
of  external  pressure.  But,  so  long  as  men  are  selfish  and 
narrow-minded,  no  entrance  into  this  kingdom  of  love  is  pos- 
sible. All  moral  ideas  flow  from  the  human  heart.  The 
closer  a  man  comes  to  the  Spirit  within,  the  greater  impetus  he 
receives  to  his  soul's  aspirations.  The  lower  nature  is  slowly 
conquered ;  bestial  passions  are  subdued  and  the  nobler  senti- 
ments of  the  soul  are  unfolded.  Sympathy,  love,  charity, 
good-will,  begin  to  manifest  their  activity  and  strength.  The 
human  heart  opens  to  the  influx  of  the  Divine  feelings,  and  ha- 
tred, anger,  and  narrowness  cease  to  work.  Instead  of  limit- 
ing himself  to  a  particular  state,  he  proceeds  further  to  identify 
himself  with  all  humanity.  Centred  in  the  absolute,  he  traces 
his  kinship  with  the  whole  of  creation.  He  learns  that  to  be 
happy  means  to  be  in  tune  with  the  Divine  Spirit  that  breathes 
life  and  light  to  all  creatures.  He  finds  that  one  class  of 
humanity  cannot  be  happy  at  the  expense  of  other  classes,  as 
all  are  mutually  knit  together  in  a  common  bond  of  Divine  love. 
This  consciousness  comes  to  man  through  prayer.  It  is  the 
most  essential  duty  of  a  State  to  arrange  for  the  spiritual  educa- 
tion of  the  people.  When  the  soul  is  elevated,  it  sets  right  all 
other  connections  of  itself.  Man  needs  then  no  external  force 
to  restrain  him  from  evil-doing,  as  he  naturally  shuns  evil  just 
as  he  shuns  a  serpent. 

Of  late  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  construct  Society  on  the 
basis  of  utilitarian  morality.  The  propounders  of  this  system 
suppose  that  men  can  be  good  and  wise  without  being  pious; 
that  morality  can  work  without  the  aid  of  piety.  This  system 
dispenses  with  the  need  of  any  prayer  or  Divine  help  received 
through  communion.  .  ,  .  Now,  to  attempt  to  develop  moral- 
ity without  the  help  of  piety  is  to  do  away  with  the  fountain- 
head  from  which  all  goodness  springs.  It  is  to  make  a  map  of 
a  stream  without  indicating  the  spring  from  which  the  water 
takes  its  rise.  Without  an  impulse  from  within,  no  man  can 
have  a  motive  to  be  good.  All  outward  ideas  of  utility  can 
add  to  this  moral  force  but  certainly  cannot  create  it. 

Let  the  purity  of  the  Church  be  carefully  maintained  and  let 
every  human  heart  be  filled  with  a  prayerful  spirit.  This  will 
bring  about  a  tremendous  change  in  the  daily  life  of  mankind, 
of  which  we  can  have  no  dream  in  the  present  stage  of  society. 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  393 

Instead  of  praying  to  God  for  the  destruction  of  our  enemies, 
man  will  kneel  down  to  pray  for  the  good  of  all  beings.  He 
will  pray  like  Christ  for  the  forgiveness  of  his  enemies. 
Knowing  that  no  human  being  can  escape  the  consequences  of 
his  evil  thoughts  and  deeds,  man  will  not  trouble  himself  with 
feelings  and  plans  of  revenge.  He  will  realise  that  God  cannot 
bless  any  impure  or  evil  conception.  He  will  understand  that 
all  evil  thoughts  which  we  pour  out  for  the  destruction  of  our 
enemies  return  to  us  with  intensified  force,  taking  the  same 
from  similar  thought-currents  of  other  people.  Hence  for  his 
self-interest,  or  self-safety,  man  will  have  to  stop  all  evil  think- 
ing. He  will  pray  for  the  good  of  all,  and  good  alone  will 
return  to  him.  This  will  take  him  onward  on  the  path  of 
progress  and  salvation.  All  human  institutions  based  on  greed 
and  selfishness  will  slowly  change,  and  man  will  reconstruct 
them  on  the  basis  of  altruism.  Society  will  be  quickened  with 
a  new  life,  and  man  will  look  upon  all  human  beings  with  a 
friendly  eye.  He  will  then  be  able  to  see  all  things  in  their 
right  relation  to  each  other.  All  outward  restraints  will  grad- 
ually disappear.  "  Let  Thy  kingdom  come  "  will  become  a 
reality  and  not  a  dream,  as  at  present.  The  kingdom  of  God 
for  which  the  soul  of  Christ  longed  will  be  within  sight  of 
men,  and  an  era  of  true  democracy  will  begin. 

VI.  Gospel  of  Duty 

This  whole  universe  is  working.  Nothing  is  idle  in  this 
vast  ocean  of  matter.  The  smallest  molecule  is  vibrating,  or 
struggling  towards  some  combination.  From  the  smallest 
electron  to  the  highest  organism  all  are  working  towards  some 
definite  end.  Everi'thing  in  nature  has  got  an  impress  of  duty 
stamped  upon  it.  Life  means  always  and  everywhere  activity 
or  organised  energy.  We  are  born  to  work,  and  so  work  we 
must  under  all  conditions.  There  cannot  exist  a  state  of  abso- 
lute cessation  of  work.  Our  body  is  being  constantly  replaced 
by  new  particles  of  matter.  When  we  are  asleep  our  mind  is 
ever  active.  Hence  existence  means  activity,  and  life  means 
duty.  To  do  our  duty  honestly  is  the  great  problem  of 
human  life.  We  see  that  the  ideal  of  duty  dififers  with  every 
man.  What  is  duty  for  one  man  is  not  so  for  another.  Au- 
thorities and  standards  differ,  and  no  two  men  can  agree  as  to 
their  ideas  of  duty.  What  is  duty  at  one  place  is  not  so  in 
another  situation  of  life.     It  is  the  duty  of  a  soldier  to  shoot 


394  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

down  an  enemy  in  the  battlefield,  but,  if  in  the  street  of  a  town, 
the  same  soldier  kills  a  passer-by,  he  is  guilty  under  the  law  of 
the  crime  of  murder.  Therefore  objective  definition  is  im- 
possible, but  duty  can  be  defined  subjectively.  What  makes 
us  go  onward  on  the  path  of  progress,  or  leads  us  towards  God, 
is  a  good  action  and  so  is  our  duty,  while  that  which  makes  us 
go  downward  is  an  evil  action  and  so  is  not  our  duty.  What 
exalts  or  ennobles  our  character  is  the  proper  duty  of  our  life 
in  all  situations.  Environments  change  the  nature  of  duty, 
but  this  definition  holds  good  in  all  cases.  In  whatever  situa- 
tion we  are  placed  we  ought  to  see  whether  the  duty  discharged 
by  us  has  really  ennobled  our  character  or  degraded  us.  Again, 
in  the  proper  discharge  of  duty,  inward  satisfaction  is  always 
the  best  criterion  we  can  have. 

A  man  of  self-restraint  is  always  stronger  than  one  who 
wastes  his  energy  in  physical  enjoyments.  So  a  man  practising 
unselfishness  is  always  much  stronger  and  more  beneficial  to 
society  than  a  selfish  being.  Unselfishness  produces  a  mighty 
will,  builds  human  character  on  a  rock,  and  enables  man  to 
govern  many  generations.  It  brings  inward  calmness  to  the 
soul  and  opens  the  windows  of  the  mind  to  the  Divine  inflow. 
The  unselfish  man  knows  the  secret  of  work  and  performs  his 
duty  in  the  right  way. 

The  best  method  of  saving  yourselves  from  the  consequences 
of  your  action  in  daily  life  is  to  consecrate  all  that  you  have 
to  do  to  the  service  of  God.  Whatever  you  think,  whatever 
you  do,  dedicate  it  to  the  service  of  your  Lord.  Let  your 
whole  soul  be  filled  with  the  idea  of  Divine  service  in  everything 
you  undertake.  Let  no  other  motive  of  money,  power,  or 
fame  actuate  you.  In  this  wide  world  no  pain  can  come  to 
a  soul  who  has  made  God  his  sheet-anchor  and  devoted  all  that 
he  has  to  His  service.  "  Thy  will  be  done  "  is  a  good  motto 
for  such  a  soul.  He  finds  that  he  is  simply  doing  the  work 
assigned  to  him  by  his  Creator,  and  so  he  does  it  with  his  full 
heart,  never  caring  for  the  consequences.  He  does  not  long 
for  the  fruits  of  his  actions,  as  he  knows  that  what  is  essential 
for  his  maintenance  will  gravitate  to  him.  The  life  of  God  is 
infinite,  and  so  one  who  brings  himself  into  harmony  with  the 
same  can  never  suffer.  He  makes  the  sacrifice  of  his  personal 
selfishness  at  the  altar  of  God,  and  so  does  not  care  for  the 
fruits  of  his  labours.  He  claims  no  praise  or  credit  for  him- 
self, for  all  works  that  he  does  are  from  the  Father  that 
liveth  in  him.     His  whole  life  becomes  a  living  prayer,  as  he  is 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  395 

led  by  the  Spirit  in  all  that  he  attempts.  The  records  of  the 
world  prove  that  the  best  work  for  the  progress  of  the  human 
race  has  proceeded  from  men  who  sank  their  individuality  in 
humanity  and  never  cared  to  receive  any  personal  benefit  for 
their  labours.  Right-minded  men  do  not  trumpet  forth  their 
own  praise,  nor  do  they  aspire  to  live  in  the  mouths  of  other 
people.  The  very  idea  of  praise  or  credit  for  any  good  deed 
we  do  brings  pain  along  with  it.  Great  souls  have  always  felt 
more  happiness  in  giving  than  in  receiving,  and  more  joy  in 
serving  than  in  being  served.  They  love  the  more  intensely  to 
serve  others,  as  it  brings  them  nearer  their  God.  Work  is 
worship  with  such  souls  and  they  perform  it  to  the  utmost 
capacity  of  their  talents. 

There  are  many  persons  on  this  earth  to  whom  duty  is  a  dis- 
ease with  which  they  have  to  bear  anyhow.  They  drag  on  with 
this  disease  and  accumulate  pain,  making  their  whole  life  miser- 
able. Dutv  kills  them,  as  it  leaves  them  no  time  for  physical 
or  mental  recreation.  Duty  is  on  them  always.  It  hangs  upon 
them  even  in  their  sleep  and  thus  disturbs  their  hours  of  repose. 
This  idea  of  duty  is  very  unpleasant.  It  is  a  creation  of  mod- 
ern industrial  and  commercial  conditions  and  breeds  discontent 
and  misery.  Men  work  as  slaves  and  so  make  their  whole  life 
a  misery.  Everything  that  a  man  does  under  compulsion  goes 
to  build  up  attachment  towards  base  passions  and  aggravates 
slavery. 

Do  not  attach  yourself  to  the  fruits  of  your  actions.  Resign 
whatever  you  do  to  the  service  of  God.  If  you  attribute  your 
actions  to  your  personality  they  are  sure  to  react  upon  you  and 
so  pain  will  necessarily  follow,  whether  your  action  is  a  charity 
for  others  or  a  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  your  fellow-beings. 
But  in  resigning  all  your  actions  to  God  you  stop  the  mentative 
current  of  desire-force  and  hence  no  reaction  can  possibly  reach 
you.  Thus  you  will  save  yourself  from  pain  while  your  re- 
ward is  sure.     This  is  the  gospel  of  duty. 

Right  healing  is  always  performed  from  within,  while  ex- 
ternal remedies  simply  contribute  to  make  the  way  clear  for  the 
action  of  internal  life-forces.  The  Divinity  in  each  man  is  his 
real  saviour  and  right  healer.  This  central  force  regulates  the 
external,  the  outermost  regions  of  our  body,  and  keeps  in  right 
order  all  the  assimilative,  secretive,  and  other  processes  of  the 
body.  This  very  force  controls  man's  thoughts  and  passions 
by  showing  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong.  This 
Divinity  is  the  moral  and  physical  healer  of  man.     Hence  the 


396  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

knowledge  of  this  Divine  force  is  rightly  considered  to  be  a 
real  effective  cure  for  all  physical  and  mental  ailments. 
Therefore  belief  or  faith  in  this  moral  force  has  been  vigor- 
ously inculcated  by  all  great  teachers  of  the  human  race. 

The  cause  of  a  malady  is  that,  the  cells  of  the  patient  being 
filled  with  mental  states  of  disease,  fear  and  undesirable  effects 
become  negative  to  the  influence  of  the  central  mind.  Now 
if  these  mental  conditions  be  changed  to  those  of  hope,  confi- 
dence, love,  faith,  belief,  and  expectancy,  the  effect  upon  the 
cells  will  be  marvellous.  If  to  these  wholesome  conditions  a 
more  positive  state  of  conscious  control  and  power  over  the 
malady  be  added,  the  effect  will  be  much  magnified.  This  is 
the  work  of  the  healer  who  operates  upon  the  mind  of  the 
patient  and  imparts  to  him  a  stimulus  that  sets  the  healing 
processes  in  operation.  A  state  of  calmness  and  relaxation  is 
induced  in  the  patient,  and  by  an  earnest,  hopeful  conversation 
his  attention  is  directed  to  the  bright  side  of  life.  The  healer 
throws  his  entire  self  into  the  matter  before  him  and  concen- 
trates his  mentality  upon  the  subject  of  cure.  He  discards  all 
feelings  of  doubt  or  misgiving  from  his  mind,  as  a  slight  lack 
of  confidence  on  the  part  of  a  healer  is  sufficient  to  spoil  the 
entire  work  of  cure.  The  patient  and  the  healer  both  should 
co-operate  in  this  work.  This  explains  the  oft-repeated  ques- 
tion of  Christ,  "  Dost  thou  believe?  "  as  by  this  He  meant  to 
bring  about  healthy  conditions  in  the  mind  of  the  patient.  The 
patient  has  to  visualise  a  state  of  perfect  health  and  image  the 
condition  of  a  man  who  is  absolutely  free  from  the  trouble  of 
which  he  wants  to  be  relieved.  The  healer  then  proceeds  to 
tell  the  patient  that  he  is  strong  and  visually  brings  about  the 
conditions  that  he  desires  to  produce  in  him.  During  all  this 
process  he  keeps  before  him  the  mental  image  of  the  conditions 
that  he  desires  to  produce  in  the  patient.  This  is  the  psychol- 
ogy of  the  method  of  faith-healing  or  mental  healing. 

Mental  agony  or  brooding  anxiety  wrecks  a  life,  and  long- 
continued  jealousy  sometimes  causes  insanity.  Sick  thoughts 
and  discordant  moods  materialise  themselves  in  the  body  and 
produce  disease.  From  this  law  there  can  be  no  escape.  All 
unnatural  desires  and  gross  passions  by  virtue  of  their  cumula- 
tive effect  tend  to  bring  about  particular  forms  of  disease  which 
in  time  become  chronic.  They  stop  the  inflow  of  the  Divine 
part  of  our  nature  and  choke  all  the  channels  through  which 
this  flow  could  possibly  enter  into  us.  But  if  emotions  of 
love,  kindness,  benevolence  be  aroused  in  the  human  soul,  these 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  397 

always  stimulate  wholesome  conditions  and  open  all  the  chan- 
nels of  our  mind,  thus  allowing  a  free  inflow  from  the  Divine 
Spirit.  This  is  the  task  of  prayer  and  hence  its  vital  import- 
ance in  curing  sickness  and  disease  has  been  always  recognised 
by  wise  men  of  all  ages;  it  eradicates  all  bad  feelings  by  setting 
the  nobler  forces  of  our  nature  into  operation.  The  effect  is 
instantaneous.  Let  the  patient  pray  with  his  full  heart  and  he 
will  experience  a  current  of  spiritual  feelings  run  throughout 
his  system.  This  current  will  bring  into  play  the  spiritual 
forces  latent  in  his  nature,  which  will  soon  overcome  the  gross 
passions  that  brought  about  the  disease. 

P'ear  and  worry  are  the  two  bad  enemies  of  man  and  must 
be  shunned  by  every  one  who  wishes  to  remain  healthy. 
Worry  corrodes  and  pulls  down  the  body  and  finally  breaks 
down  the  organism.  If  our  thoughts  are  gloomy,  sad,  full  of 
worry  or  hatred,  we  shall  attract  similar  thoughts  from  the 
atmosphere  which  will  people  our  mind  with  all  kinds  of  mal- 
adies. Thus  it  is  clear  that  the  right  method  of  curing  a  dis- 
ease is  to  place  the  human  soul  in  tune  with  the  Divine  Spirit. 
This  communion  will  enable  the  human  soul  to  pour  forth  its 
best  emotions  and  noblest  feelings.  Prayer  does  not  only  cure 
the  patient  of  a  disease;  it  also  teaches  him  the  philosophy  of 
life.  He  comes  to  realise  that  he  has  in  his  nature  a  Divine 
power  upon  wdiich  he  can  call  at  any  time  and  which  can  set 
right  all  the  functions  of  his  life.  It  is  a  means  of  curing  the 
ailments  of  every  one  who  understands  its  efficacy.  It  enables 
a  man  to  heal  the  ailments  of  others,  as  by  its  help  he  can 
bring  about  healthier  conditions  in  the  minds  of  other  people. 
By  praying  for  a  diseased  person  a  pious  soul  may  set  the 
nobler  sentiments  of  the  nature  of  the  patient  into  operation, 
and  these  in  due  course  will  overcome  the  gross  passions  that 
brought  about  the  disease. 

Suffering  is  the  furnace  through  which  the  metal  of  the 
human  heart  must  pass  to  be  free  from  all  alloy.  It  chastens 
the  human  mind  and  calls  the  best  in  human  nature  into  play. 
It  brings  heroes  to  light  and  makes  the  Divine  in  them  to  speak 
out.  It  makes  the  weak  strong  and  the  coward  brave.  It 
makes  those  hearts  ripen  and  blossom  which  would  wither  and 
decay  amidst  ease  and  comfort.  It  increases  our  power  of 
self-reliance  and  makes  character.  Some  of  the  noblest  pro- 
ductions in  the  field  of  art  and  literature  owe  their  existence  to 
this.  These  were  executed  or  written  down  in  times  of  deep 
distress  which  appealed  to  the  deepest  emotions  of  the  human 


39S  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

heart  and  thus  brought  out  feeHngs  which  have  enriched  the  art 
and  Hterature  of  the  world.  A  man  who  has  not  battled  with 
poverty,  disease,  and  suffering  cannot  well  enjoy  happiness  and 
pleasure.  His  mind  is  still  weak  and  he  is  lacking  in  strength 
and  decision  of  character.  In  order  to  be  strong  we  must 
pass  through  trials  and  afflictions. 

"  Had  I  not  been  so  great  an  invalid,"  said  Darwin,  "  I 
should  not  have  done  so  much  work  as  I  have  been  able  to 
accomplish.''  Schiller  wrote  his  great  tragedies  when  he  was 
suffering  from  physical  ailments  which  amounted  to  torture. 
Handel  did  his  greatest  work  in  music  when  he  was  brought  to 
the  door  of  death  by  acute  distress  caused  by  an  attack  of 
palsy.  Mozart  composed  his  great  operas  and  his  requiem 
when  he  was  suffering  from  a  terrible  disease.  Lamb's  best 
compositions  were  produced  in  pangs  of  deepest  sorrow. 

Ingersoll  in  a  sceptical  mood  remarks  about  the  people  of 
Lisbon  who  suffered  in  the  earthquake  of  1755  :  "  What  was 
God  doing  ?  Why  did  the  universal  Father  crush  to  shapeless- 
ness  thousands  of  His  poor  children  at  the  moment  when  they 
were  upon  their  knees  returning  thanks  to  Him?  "  It  may  be 
argued  in  reply  to  this  remark  that  purification  of  soul  is  a 
greater  object  of  creation  than  the  preservation  merely  of  the 
body.  All  physical  suffering  is  meant  to  purify  the  human 
soul  and  God  fulfils  His  Divine  purpose  by  blessing  those  souls 
with  grace  who  cling  to  Him  in  the  face  of  sudden  distress. 
Those  sweet  souls  who  perished  while  kneeling  down  to  Heaven 
entered  into  Divine  mercy  and  they  were  lifted  up  into  better 
realms  of  nature.  This  was  the  act  of  the  universal  Father. 
The  critic  ought  to  see  the  whole  and  not  the  part  only,  but 
if  he  has  not  got  the  inner  vision  to  see  the  whole,  he  should 
not  vilify  the  Creator  for  his  own  defective  vision. 

Man  thinks  and  acts  as  he  feels.  The  truest  truth  is  that 
which  is  most  deeply  felt.  Feeling  always  precedes  thinking. 
If  you  wish  to  produce  a  change  in  the  thoughts  of  a  man,  just 
change  his  feelings  and  this  will  be  followed  by  a  revolution  in 
all  his  ideas.  If  you  wish  to  produce  a  change  in  a  nation, 
change  its  modes  of  feeling  and  it  will  look  upon  the  same  facts 
and  circumstances  in  a  quite  different  way.  "  The  ennobling 
difference,"  says  Ruskin,  "  between  one  man  and  another  — 
between  one  animal  and  another  —  is  precisely  in  this,  that  one 
feels  more  than  another."  "  You  can  talk  a  mob  into  any- 
thing, its  feelings  may  be,  usually  are  on  the  whole,  generous 
and  right,  but,  as  it  has  no  foundation  for  them,  no  hold  of 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  399 

them,  you  may  tease  or  tickle  it  into  any  act  at  your  pleasure. 
It  thinks  by  infection  for  the  most  part,  catching  an  opinion  like 
a  cold,  and  there  is  nothing  so  little  that  it  will  not  roar  itself 
wild  about  when  the  fit  is  on,  nothing  so  great  but  it  will  forget 
in  an  hour  when  the  fit  is  past.  But  a  gentleman's  or  a  great 
nation's  passions  arc  just,  measured  and  continuous."  ^ 

There  has  been  always  a  close  relation  between  worship  and 
culture.  Let  the  rays  of  the  moral  sun  once  shed  their  lustre 
on  the  soul  of  a  man  and  his  entire  nature  changes  at  once.  It 
brings  into  activity  the  intellect,  emotions,  and  will-power  of 
his  soul  and  makes  giants  of  ordinary  men.  Study  the  history 
of  all  creeds  and  see  how  their  followers  loved  each  other.  It 
was  the  mutual  lo\e  and  godliness  of  early  Christians  that  con- 
verted the  Roman  Empire.  Even  their  enemies  used  to  say, 
"  See  how  these  Christians  love  one  another."  Again  with  the 
rise  of  the  Reformation  in  Europe  we  see  a  new  era  of  literary 
and  industrial  growth  dawning  before  the  Western  world. 
Poets  like  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  and  Milton  come  on  the  public 
platform  with  extraordinary  powers  of  inspiration  and  genius. 
For  the  first  time  the  door  of  knowledge  is  opened  to  common 
people;  the  secrets  of  nature  are  unravelled  and  science  is 
brought  to  the  service  of  man.  Great  captains  of  industry  are 
born  and  earnestness  appears  in  all  the  affairs  of  men.  Ages 
of  revival  in  all  nations  have  been  productive  of  great  results. 
The  reformer  or  the  revivalist  appeals  to  the  souls  of  men  and 
always  finds  a  direct  and  immediate  response.  The  closer  the 
touch,  the  higher  rises  the  sentiment.  The  more  profound  the 
teaching,  the  nobler  is  the  effect.  The  true  secret  of  success 
lies  in  appeal  to  the  nobler  parts  of  human  nature.  The  nearer 
a  nation  comes  to  the  perceptions  of  Divine  life,  the  nobler  and 
loftier  become  its  ideals. 


VII.  National  Ideas  in  the  Present  Age 

We  are  born  in  an  age  when  man  seems  to  have  lost  touch 
with  the  inner  moral  law  of  life.  Science  has  been  searching 
for  a  purely  intellectual  explanation  of  nature.  The  facts  of 
nature  appear  to  the  modern  scientist  purely  non-moral,  and 
hence  they  are  studied  without  any  reference  to  the  emotional 
laws  of  nature.  This  mistake  has  told  upon  the  entire  in- 
vestigations of  science.     "  Science  in  England  and  America," 

1  Sesame  and  Lilies. 


400  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

says  Emerson,  "  is  jealous  of  theory;  it  hates  the  name  of  love 
and  moral  purpose," 

So  far  as  the  protection  of  the  spiritual  and  material  in- 
terests of  a  community  is  concerned,  nationalism  has  no  evil 
about  it.  But  when  these  limits  are  exceeded  and  a  nation  is 
imbued  with  the  ideas  of  its  expansion  at  the  expense  of  other 
races,  exploitation  begins  which  tells  upon  the  welfare  of  both 
parties.  Thus  conditions  soon  arise  which  turn  nationalism 
into  imperialism.  With  the  rise  of  this  force  a  spirit  of  self- 
aggrandisement  is  fostered  which  paralyses  all  nobler  forces 
that  make  for  progress. 

Let  science  learn  the  language  of  love  and  humanity  and  all 
its  structure  will  change.  Man  will  then  understand  that  he 
has  a  Divine  consciousness  in  him  by  whose  guidance  he  can 
learn  all  the  facts  of  nature  beyond  possibility  of  question.  A 
change  in  the  attitude  of  science  will  alter  the  aspects  of  na- 
tional life.  Ideals  of  nationalism  and  commercialism  will  give 
place  to  feelings  of  elevated  democracy.  This  will  render 
mutual  help  and  combination  spontaneous  and  instinctive. 
Each  man  will  serve  his  neighbour  as  naturally  as  the  right 
hand  serves  the  left  hand.  Every  man  will  do  the  work  which 
he  knows  will  be  useful  without  any  desire  for  personal  grati- 
fication. The  dues  of  labour  will  be  rightly  adjusted,  and  so- 
ciety will  very  easily  solve  the  question  of  wages  and  labour 
that  are  bewildering  modern  industrial  life.  Prayer  will  make 
nations  broad-minded  and  eradicate  all  racial  considerations. 
The  more  cultured  will  come  to  the  help  of  the  weak  and  the 
evils  of  exploitation  cease  to  exist.  Standing  feuds  between 
one  sect  and  another  and  between  one  nation  and  another  will 
give  place  to  ideas  of  peace  and  amity.  Human  beings  will 
understand  their  right  relations  to  each  other  and  an  era  of 
peaceful  evolution  will  begin  its  course. 

The  records  of  the  world  testify  that  no  man  has  been  able 
to  sacrifice  hi?  lov/er  passions  unless  he  has  been  given  an  op- 
portunity to  cling  to  his  higher  self.  It  is  this  communion  with 
the  immortal  and  Divine  part  of  our  nature  that  satisfies  our 
ideas  of  justice  and  perfection  and  gives  us  an  impetus  to  do 
the  highest  good  to  our  fellowmen  without  expecting  any  re- 
ward in  return.  Intense  love  for  humanity  has  been  found  in 
those  souls  only  which  have  found  their  centre  in  the  Divinity 
by  proper  communion.  Examine  the  records  of  the  lives  of 
men  who  have  found  more  pleasure  in  giving  than  in  receiving, 
more  happiness  in  renouncing  their  selfish  desires  for  the  good 


THE  DIVINE  IMMANENCE  401 

of  their  brethren  than  in  p^ratifying  them,  and  more  deHght  in 
sacrificing  their  Hfe  for  the  redemption  of  humanity  than  in 
enjoying  it;  and  it  will  be  found  that  what  guided  such  souls 
and  gave  an  impetus  to  their  minds  was  not  any  earthly  reward, 
as  they  expected  none  from  their  often  ungrateful  brethren. 
Centred  in  the  Absolute,  they  had  lost  all  care  about  the  moral 
part  of  their  existence,  and  so  they  found  more  happiness  in 
shaking  off  the  same  for  a  cause  which  they  had  most  at  heart. 
Clinging  always  to  God  and  obeying  the  dictates  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  they  departed  from  this  world.  Such  unselfish  love 
towards  humanity,  which  included  the  persecutors  of  such  char- 
acters, has  sprung  up  in  souls  who  have  sought  communion 
with  the  indwelling  Spirit.  It  always  comes  through  prayer 
which  leadeth  to  the  Divine  palace  of  the  Spirit  Who  guideth 
the  universe  in  all  her  operations. 


XIX 
THE  CLAIM  OF  RIGHT  THINKING 

BY 

F.  L.  RAWSON,  M.I.E.E.,  A.M.I.C.E. 

LONDON 


XIX 

THE  CLAIM  OF  RIGHT  THINKING 

Mankind  has  a  heavy  burden  to  bear,  and  in  many  cases  this 
burden  to-day  would  appear  to  be  ahnost  intolerable,  were  it 
not  that  what  is  known  in  the  Bible  as  the  "  Gospel  "  or  "  good 
news  " —  in  other  words,  the  true  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
how  to  pray  by  the  realisation  of  God  and  of  His  Christ 
—  is  breaking  through  the  mist  of  matter  all  over  the  world, 
bringing  an  ever-increasing  joy  into  the  hearts  of  all  those  who 
are  spiritually  minded. 

Fortunately  you  need  not  take  on  trust  what  follows;  you 
can  prove  it  for  yourself.  This  is  possible,  for  as  St.  Paul 
said  :  "  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  "  (Phil.  iv.  13),  and 
I  hope  that  every  reader  will  put  into  practice  the  method  of 
prayer  advocated  and  so  gain  for  himself  a  practical  knowledge 
of  "  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding  "  (Phil. 
iv.  7). 

I.  Things  are  just  as  We  Think 

It  is  now  common  knowledge  that  every  thought  a  man 
thinks  about  himself,  either  of  good  or  of  evil,  is  followed  by 
an  effect,  more  or  less  pronounced,  according  to  the  intensity 
of  the  thought.  "  For  as  he  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he  " 
(Prov.  xxiii.  7).  To  all  authorities  on  the  subject  it  is  well 
known  that  what  we  think  of  another  person  has  also  its  ap- 
parent effect,  and  by  thinking  of  the  material  man  we  are  con- 
stantly more  or  less  harming  him,  as  it  is  thinking  of  him  as 
material  instead  of  spiritual,  and  so  binding  the  fetters  of 
matter  still  more  tightly  round  him.  This  is  why  St.  Paul 
said :  "  Henceforth  know  we  no  man  after  the  flesh  "  (2  Cor. 
V.  16).  If  we  think  evil,  we  get  evil,  and  the  words  of  the 
prophet  are  true  for  all  time :  "  Behold.  I  will  bring  evil  upon 
this  people,  even  the  fruit  of  their  thoughts  "  (Jer.  vi.  19).  If 
we  think  good,  we  get  good ;  but  we  must  not  think  lies,  and 
think  ourselves  well  when  we  are  ill,  as  some  mental  workers 

40s 


4o6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

advise.  For  the  most  scientific  teacher  that  ever  lived  said : 
"  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free  " 
(John  viii.  32).  We  must  not  even  think  the  so-called  good 
of  the  material  world,  as,  whilst  all  the  good  around  us  is  of 
God  —  imperfectly  seen  —  there  is  nothing  wholly  good  in  the 
material  world.  Our  Lord  Himself  said:  "  Why  callest  thou 
me  good?  There  is  none  good  save  one,  that  is  God  "  (Matt, 
xix.  17).  The  ignorance  which  matter  generates  always  hides 
the  good  from  us,  mpre  or  less,  and  what  we  see  is  only  relative 
good.  We  want  absolute  good,  God  and  His  perfect  man- 
ifestation. To  obtain  this  we  have  to  obey  the  first  com- 
mandment and  have  only  one  God.  We  have  to  think  of  the 
highest  good  that  we  possibly  can.  This  the  theologian  calls 
God  and  heaven ;  the  metaphysician.  Mind  and  its  ideas ;  the 
scientific  man  calls  it  cause  and  its  manifestation;  some  call  it 
Nature.  Whatever  you  may  prefer  to  call  it,  it  is  an  absolutely 
perfect,  ideal,  mental  world,  a  perfect  state  of  consciousness, 
which  now  exists  around  us.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
within  ''  (Luke  xvii.  21).  It  is  God's  perfect  world,  created 
and  sustained  by  God,  for  "  God  saw  everything  that  he  had 
made,  and,  behold,  it  was  very  good  "  (Gen.  i.  31).  We  can- 
not, however,  see  this  perfect  world  as  it  really  is.  Mistaken 
ideas  hide  the  facts  from  us.  Wrong  thoughts  result  in  heaven 
being  hidden  from  us. 

H.  Heaven  and  Hell  States  of  Consciousness 

We  make  our  own  comparative  heaven  and  our  own  hell 
by  the  thoughts  we  entertain.  Most  of  us  have  experienced 
both.  As  Shakespeare  has  said :  "  There's  nothing  either  good 
or  bad  but  thinking  makes  it  so."  What  we  have  to  do  is  to 
think  rightly.  Then  the  evil  will  disappear,  and  indeed  imist 
disappear,  as  it  is  only  the  result  of  wrong  thinking  —  not  al- 
ways of  conscious  wrong  thinking,  but  of  the  action  of 
thoughts  on  the  subconscious  mind,  as  when  a  man  goes  to  bed 
well  and  wakes  up  with  a  disease.  He  never  thought  that  he 
was  going  to  have  the  disease  but  the  thoughts  acted  on  his 
subconscious  mind.  The  disappearance  of  evil  may  perhaps  at 
first  be  slow,  but  it  will  be  more  rapid  as  we  learn  more  of 
God,  and  put  our  knowledge  into  practice.  The  only  power 
evil  has  is  the  power  we  give  it  in  our  own  so-called  mind. 
No  evil  can  touch  us  if  we  keep  out  evil  thoughts ;  and  the  only 
way  to  do  this  is  by  right  thinking,  by  actively  thinking  of  God 


RIGHT  THINKING  407 

and  His  manifestation  in  heaven.  Then  "  the  prince  of  this 
world  Cometh  and  hath  nothing  in  me"  (John  xiv.  30). 
Therefore  "  acquaint  now  thyself  with  him  and  be  at  peace  " 
(Job  xxii.  21).  Our  minds  must  be  constantly  dwelling  on 
God.  We  have  to  be  loyal  to  God,  thinking  always  only  of 
good,  absolute  good,  God  and  the  manifestation  of  God,  called 
heaven.     This  is  prayer  without  ceasing. 

III.  Protection  at  the  Front 

The  result  of  prayer  at  the  front  has  been  simply  marvellous 
in  the  protection  it  has  afforded.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
cases  was  that  of  an  officer  who  before  the  war  was  a  well- 
known  business  man  ;  he  was  being  protected  by  prayer  at  home, 
and  had  learned  to  pray  in  the  way  herein  shown.  The  Allies 
had  tried  for  seventeen  days  to  take  one  of  the  woods,  but 
could  not  get  across  the  five  hundred  yards  of  no-man's  land, 
which  was  very  stoutly  defended,  regiment  after  regiment 
having  bten  cut  to  pieces  in  the  attempt.  He  told  me  himself 
that  he  **  treated  "  for  an  hour  before  taking  his  men  over  the 
top,  that  is  to  say  he  prayed  by  the  realisation  of  the  safety  in 
heaven,  and  not  by  asking  God  to  protect  him  and  his  men,  and 
then,  although  the  shells  were  bursting  all  round  them,  and  the 
machine-guns  were  hard  at  work  just  as  before,  they  got  into 
the  German  trenches  without,  so  far  as  he  knew,  a  single  man 
being  touched.  The  outcome  of  this  prayer,  I  may  mention, 
would  be  that  instead  of  numbers  of  Germans  being  killed, 
they  would  be  taken  prisoners,  for  as  the  result  of  true  prayer 
good  must  come  about  for  every  one  concerned,  and  surely  the 
best  place  for  the  Germans  was  in  our  internment  camps. 

The  clearing  of  the  wood  occupied  five  more  days,  and  at 
the  end,  out  of  the  eighty  officers  in  his  brigade,  he  was  the 
only  one  left.  His  escape  was  a  succession  of  miracles,  and  his 
equipment  was  almost  cut  to  pieces.  The  enemy  tried  hard  to 
snipe  him.  and  on  one  occasion  a  German  aimed  at  him  point- 
blank  from  five  yards  away.  The  bullet  struck  a  small  piece 
of  metal  right  in  the  middle  of  his  chest  and  glanced  aside, 
tearing  his  shirt  and  tunic,  but  not  touching  him.  A  clear 
proof  that  these  escapes  were  not  due  to  coincidence  occurred 
when,  later  on,  he  took  his  men  into  the  Hohenzollern  redoubt, 
which,  next  to  the  Ypres  salient,  was  probably  about  the  worst 
place  in  the  line  —  the  casualties  had  averaged  a  hundred  per 
week,    the    previous    week    numbering   over   a    hundred-and- 


4o8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

twenty.  His  regiment  was  there  for  ten  weeks,  and  he  told 
me  that  during  the  whole  of  that  time  not  a  man  was  touched, 
save  during  the  time  when  he  was  at  home  on  a  week's  leave 
and  did  not  intercede  for  them  sufficiently,  the  result  being 
that,  during  that  time,  four  were  killed  and  four  wounded. 

This  was  no  isolated  instance.  In  one  case  a  friend  of  mine, 
up  to  the  time  he  wrote  me  in  the  middle  of  191 5,  never  had 
had  a  casualty  of  any  kind  among  any  men  that  he  commanded, 
although  he  took  part  in  the  actions  of  Neuve  Chapelle  and 
Richebourg,  Hulluch,  Loos,  and  Gommecourt,  whilst  those 
around  him  had  the  usual  casualties.  In  another  case  in  which 
the  Colonel  of  the  regiment  was  praying  in  the  right  way, 
there  were  only  two  or  three  casualties  per  month  until  Loos, 
and  then  they  were  practically  negligible,  although  the  casual- 
ties of  the  other  regiments  around  were  heavy.  On  all  sides 
we  have  heard  of  results  of  the  same  description. 

IV.  The  Material  World  a  False  View  of  Heaven 

Then  comes  the  question  which  all  the  great  philosophers 
have  attempted  to  solve,  but  without  success :  What  is  the  ma- 
terial world  and  how  did  it  originate?  Who  created  the  evil? 
This  we  shall  never  know.  Scientifically  we  know  that  matter 
is  merely  electricity ;  but  no  one  has,  or  possibly  ever  can  have, 
the  slightest  idea  as  to  what  electricity  is. 

Lord  Kelvin,  after  fifty-five  years'  hard  work,  said:  "I 
know  no  more  of  electric  and  magnetic  force  or  of  the  rela- 
tion between  ether,  electricity,  and  ponderable  matter,  or  of 
chemical  affinity,  than  I  knew  and  tried  to  teach  my  students 
of  natural  philosophy  in  my  first  session  as  a  professor."  Edi- 
son wrote  that  "  after  all  the  years  I  have  spent  in  studying 
electricity  it  is  more  a  mystery  now  than  ever." 

The  material  world  can  now  undoubtedly  be  proved  to  be 
nothing  but  the  spiritual  or  real  world  seen  wrongly.  As  St. 
Paul  says,  "  We  see  through  a  glass  darkly  "  ( i  Cor.  xiii.  12). 
Heaven  is  hidden  by  the  mist  of  material  sense,  for  "  there 
went  up  a  mist  from  the  earth  "  (Gen.  ii.  6). 

V.    How  TO   PROVE  THE  FaCTS  OF   HeAVEN 

We  can  now  establish  what  heaven  is  like,  because  if  any- 
thing is  wrong  in  the  material  world,  and  a  man  turns  in 
thought  to  heaven  and  realises  clearly  enough  what  is  taking 


RIGHT  THINKING  409 

place  in  that  perfect  world,  instantly  the  material  trouble  dis- 
appears. We  need  not  die  to  reach  heaven;  we  can  gain  a 
foretaste  of  the  joys  of  heaven  here  and  now. 

VI.  Different  Views  of  the  Material  World 

We  find  that  none  of  the  so-called  laws  in  the  material  world 
are  true;  but  together  they  form  a  system  of  mcmoria  technica 
which  enables  a  man  to  answer  thousands  of  questions,  the 
answers  to  which  he  could  not  otherwise  recollect.  You  can, 
in  a  somewhat  similar  way,  look  at  the  material  world  from 
the  following  different  points  of  view,  none  of  which  are  true, 
but  all  of  which  may  be  termed  accurate  or  correct,  that  is  to 
say,  as  true  as  anything  else  that  can  be  said  about  the  material 
world. 

i.  The  religious  znezv,  as  set  out  in  the  Bible.  The  value  of 
this  way  of  looking  at  life  is  that  we  rely  upon  the  action  of 
God  as  something  outside  of  ourselves.  If  we  thought  ive  had 
to  heal,  knowing  how  thoroughly  ignorant,  sinful,  and  inefifi- 
cient  we  are,  we  should  always  be  limiting  ourselves  by  think- 
ing that  w'e  could  not  do  what  was  necessary. 

ii.  That  this  Life  is  a  Dream. —  This  is  the  view  that  Buddha 
put  forward  when  he  said :  "  Self  is  error  and  illusion,  a 
dream.  Open  your  eyes  and  awake.  See  things  as  they  are 
and  you  will  be  comforted."  Shakespeare  said:  "We  are 
such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  on,  and  our  little  life  is  rounded 
with  a  sleep."  As  the  light  comes  and  we  wake  up  and  know 
the  true  facts  of  the  world,  so  does  evil  proportionately  dis- 
appear until  we  become  thoroughly  awake  to  the  fact  that  we 
are  in  heaven. 

iii.  That  zve  are  hypnotised  into  our  Troubles. —  It  is  well 
known  that  a  man  can  be  hypnotised  into  any  false  belief. 
Thus  we  are  hypnotised  into  seeing  the  evil,  and  all  we  have  to 
do  is  to  de-hypnotise  ourselves,  and  as  the  hypnotic  effect 
passes  off  we  see  the  marvellous  and  beautiful  world,  which  is 
around  us  all  the  time,  more  and  more  as  it  really  is. 

iv.  The  Natural  Science  Point  of  View. —  Thought,  from 
the  natural  science  point  of  view,  is  a  high-tension  electric  cur- 
rent, and  thought  after  thought  sweeps  across  the  mind,  at 
about  the  speed  of  a  railway  train,  each  class  of  thought  having 
its  own  rate  of  vibration.  Every  sin  and  every  disease  has  its 
own  cell  in  the  subconscious  mind  which  at  any  particular  mo- 
ment  will   only   vibrate   with   a   definite   rate   of   vibration. 


4IO  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Whether  the  person  is  affected  by  the  temptation  to  sin  depends 
upon  the  condition  of  his  mind.  If  the  anger-cell  is  perfectly 
clean  it  will  only  respond  to  good  thoughts,  which  are  high 
vibrations;  but  if  the  cell  has  small  electrical  particles  on  it, 
these  damp  it  down  as  pitch  does  a  tuning  fork,  so  that  it  will 
only  vibrate  with  the  lower  vibrations  of  anger.  By  true 
prayer  both  the  thoughts  and  the  electric  particles  can  be  short- 
circuited  and  destroyed  for  ever. 

V.  Cinema  Pictures  at  best. —  The  best  method  of  looking 
at  life  is  to  recognise  that  all  the  good  we  see  around  us,  all  the 
love,  life,  joy,  beauty,  etc.,  is  made  by  God,  and  is  therefore 
permanent  and  eternal.  No  one  has  ever  been  able  to  find 
out  the  origin  or  nature  of  evil.  It  is  best  described  as  a 
series  of  cinema  pictures  which  flash  swiftly  by,  hiding  heaven 
from  us.  All  the  sin,  disease,  and  sorrow  are  merely  part  of 
these  cinema  pictures,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  you,  your 
real  self.  When  you  turn  in  thought  to  God,  your  human  mind 
opens,  as  it  were,  and  the  action  of  God  destroys  some  of  the 
evil  in  the  cinema  pictures  —  it  may  be  said,  through  your 
material  self  as  through  a  channel,  and  by  means  of  your 
spiritual  self.  In  other  words,  the  mist  of  matter  that  hides 
heaven  from  us  is  thinned,  and  we  see  heaven  more  as 
it  really  is. 

vi.  A  False  Concept  of  Heaven. —  The  last  way  of  looking 
at  the  material  world  is  simply  that  it  is  our  false  concept  of 
heaven,  and  if  in  helping  a  patient  we  improve  our  false  con- 
cept of  the  so-called  patient,  he  changes  for  the  better,  as 
there  is  nothing  there  but  our  false  concept  of  the  real  spiritual 
man,  the  man  whom  God  made  in  His  image  and  likeness. 

This  is  why  the  Bible  speaks  of  Satan  as  the  "  prince  of  this 
world  "  (John  xii.  31),  the  "  father,"  as  Jesus  pointed  out,  of 
the  material  man :  "  Ye  are  of  your  father,  the  devil  "  (John 
viii.  44).  We  are  now  in  the  time  of  which  St.  Paul  wrote: 
"  Then  shall  that  wicked  one  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord 
shall  .  .  .  destroy  with  the  brightness  of  his  coming"  (2 
Thess.  ii.  8).  All  the  sin,  disease,  and  troubles  which  are  so 
intensely  real  to  poor  suffering  humanity  are  simply  part  of 
these  evil  cinema  pictures,  a  hideous  nightmare  or  false,  illu- 
sionary  effect  into  which  we  are  self -hypnotised.  However 
you  may  look  at  the  material  world,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
evil  in  it  can  be  made  to  disappear;  the  true  knowledge  of  God 
now  coming  to  the  world  will  soon  enable  the  majority  of  man- 


RIGHT  THINKING  411 

kind  to  know  the  truth  which  makes  all  men  free,  and  then  the 
Christ  will  destroy  all  evil  "  with  the  brightness  of  his  coming." 

VII.  What  is  Man? 

As  the  Bible  shows  quite  clearly  the  difference  between  the 
so-called  material  world  and  the  spiritual  world,  so  does  it 
show  the  difference  between  the  mortal  or  false  man  and  the 
spiritual  or  real  man,  between  the  carnal  mind  and  the  mind 
which  is  God. 

i.  TJic  Material  Man. — "  They  which  are  the  children  of  the 
flesh,  these  are  not  the  children  of  God"  (Rom.  ix.  8).  In 
other  words,  the  fleshly  man  is  not  you,  for  you  are  spiritual. 
Our  Lord  made  the  difference  quite  clear  when  He  said : 
"  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh ;  and  that  which  is  born 
of  the  Spirit  is  spirit  "  (John  iii.  6).  Now  "  God  is  spirit" 
(John  iv.  24,  Rev.  ver.  marg.).  In  the  material  world  there 
appears  to  be  a  certain  amount  of  love,  life,  wisdom,  joy,  and 
beauty,  simply  because  the  love,  life,  wisdom,  etc.,  of  the  world 
of  reality  come  shining  through  the  cinema  pictures,  giving 
them  their  appearance  of  reality.  The  only  thing  that  is  real 
is  God's  world,  which  is  here  around  us  now.  "  We  know  that 
we  are  of  God,  and  the  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness  "  (i 
John  V.  19). 

ii.  The  Real  Spiritual  Man. —  Since  man  cannot  be  a  mere 
series  of  flickering  illusions  manifesting  sin,  disease,  and  suf- 
fering, what  is  he?  The  Bible  makes  this  particularly  clear. 
It  tells  us  that  "  God  is  spirit,"  and  that  "  God  created  man  in 
his  own  image  "  (Gen.  i.  27)  ;  therefore  man  is  spiritual.  This 
is  why  we  are  told  that  "  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God  "  ( i  John 
iii.  2),  "  in  Christ  "  (Rom.  xii.  5),  "  hid  with  Christ  in  God  " 
(Col.  iii.  3).  As  St.  Paul  said,  "Now  ye  are  the  body  of 
Christ,  and  members  in  particular "  ( i  Cor.  xii.  27)  ;  and 
again,  "We  are  the  children  of  God:  and  if  children,  then 
heirs;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ  "  (Rom.  viii. 
16,  17).  Our  Lord,  as  He  usually  did,  put  it  more  strongly 
than  any  one  else.  As  recorded  in  John  x.  34.  he  said :  "  ye 
are  gods,"  and  drove  it  home  by  adding,  "  and  the  scripture 
cannot  be  broken." 

In  other  words,  man  is  now,  always  has  been,  and  always 
will  be,  a  perfect  being,  in  a  perfect  world,  governed  by  a 
perfect  God.     "  Whosoever  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit 


412  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

sin;  .  .  .  and  he  cannot  sin;  because  he  is  born  of  God.  In 
this  the  children  of  God  are  manifest  "  ( i  John  iii.  9).  "  For 
ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  "  (Gal.  iii.  26). 

This  truth  is  not  new.  It  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting, 
and  it  has  come  shining  through  the  mist  of  matter  into  the 
world  whenever  there  was  any  one  sufficiently  pure  and  perfect 
to  teach  and  demonstrate  it.  Our  Lord  was  the  great  example, 
and  He  gave  the  knowledge  to  mankind,  proving  it  in  a  way  in 
which  no  one  else  has  ever  done.  He  demonstrated  His  knowl- 
edge of  and  His  unity  with  God,  and  set  the  seal  upon  His 
work  by  His  final  triumph  over  all  evil. 

VIII.  Two  Methods  of  Mental  Working 

Seventeen  years  ago  I  was  retained  by  one  of  the  leading 
daily  papers  to  make  a  professional  investigation  for  them  into 
mental  healing.  The  value  of  my  investigation  does  not  lie  in 
proving  that  all  disease  is  mental  —  quite  a  number  of  medical 
men  are  now  working  by  the  realisation  of  the  spiritual  world, 
without  thinking  at  all  of  the  patients,  or  even  of  the  spiritual 
reality  of  the  patients,  as  many  of  the  leading  mental  workers 
recommend.  One  of  the  leading  medical  authorities,  who  now 
successfully  works  in  this  way,  has  told  me  that  he  has  con- 
clusively proved  that  healing  by  the  realisation  of  God  is  the 
highest  method  of  healing.  Nor  does  the  value  of  my  work 
lie  in  proving  that  matter  appears  and  disappears  in  accord- 
ance with  our  thoughts  —  the  scientific  reasons  for  this  I  have 
given  in  several  of  my  books.  The  principal  value  lies  in 
proving  the  difference  between  the  right  and  wrong  methods 
of  mental  working,  as  before  long  all  intelligent,  open-minded 
people  will  be  mental  workers.  Fortunately  there  is  a  hard 
and  fast  line  drawn  between  these  two  methods  of  mental 
working  which  enables  us,  easily  and  with  certainty,  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  right  and  the  wrong  method  of  prayer. 

i.  The  Right  Method. —  If,  when  you  are  mentally  working, 
you  are  thinking  of  reality,  that  is  of  God  or  of  heaven  —  the 
real  world  —  of  the  Christ,  or  of  the  spiritual  man,  you  are 
helping  your  patient,  yourself,  and  the  world.  This  is  "  cast- 
ing down  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself 
against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing  into  captivity 
every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ  "  (2  Cor.  x.  5).  No 
one  can  tell  beforehand  what  will  then  happen,  but  unques- 
tionably good  for  every  one  concerned  always  takes  place,  and 


RIGHT  THINKING  413 

must  take  place,  more  or  less,  according  to  the  clearness  and 
persistence  of  your  thought. 

ii.  The  Wrong  Method. —  If,  on  the  contrary,  you  are  think- 
ing of  the  material  man  or  the  material  world,  picturing,  or  as 
the  prophet  Ezekiel  calls  it,  imaging, —  whatever  you  are 
thinking  about  them,  unless  you  are  denying  their  reality  — 
you  are  harming  your  patient,  harming  yourself,  and  doing  no 
good  to  the  world.  Of  course,  any  one  who  wills  strongly 
enough  can  apparently  bring  about  changes  in  the  material 
world,  but  healing  done  in  this  way  is  not  true  healing,  for 
when  by  strong,  determined  thinking,  or  "  will-power,"  you 
try  to  bring  about  what  you  think  is  good,  you  can  neither 
destroy  the  evil  thoughts  nor  purify  the  so-called  human  mind. 
The  result  is  that  trouble  of  some  kind  always  returns  in  about 
three  months'  time  —  sometimes  the  same  trouble,  sometimes 
another  trouble,  and  sometimes  even  a  form  of  sin. 

Truth  and  Love,  that  is  God,  alone  heals.  The  healing  then 
is  perfect  and  permanent,  whether  of  disease,  sin,  or  any  of 
the  many  troubles  that  make  this  world  a  veritable  hell  to  so 
many. 

This  Divine  method  of  healing  by  the  realisation  of  God  is, 
as  will  be  seen,  quite  different  from  mental  suggestion,  which 
is  now  used  in  many  hospitals,  but  is  really  harmful  to  the 
patients,  although  apparently  beneficial  in  giving  temporary 
relief.  The  first  case  I  had  which  proved  to  the  doctors  who 
were  watching  the  work  that  the  results  being  obtained  were 
not  due  to  mental  suggestion,  was  that  of  a  Christian  Scientist 
who  asked  for  help  for  her  son,  who  was  drinking  himself  to 
death,  and  was  in  the  last  stages  of  delirium  tremens,  having 
had  nothing  but  drink  in  his  room  for  a  fortnight.  The  Chris- 
tian Science  practitioners  would  not  take  the  patient  because, 
being  antagonistic  to  Christian  Science  or  any  form  of  religion, 
he  would  not  ask  for  help.  I  said  that  I  could  not  treat  him 
regularly,  as  I  had  too  many  people  waiting  to  be  taken  on  as 
patients ;  nevertheless  I  gave  him  one  treatment,  taking  as  the 
main  point  that  man  —  the  spiritual  man  —  could  not  wish  for 
such  a  vile  thing  as  drink,  as  he  was  spiritual,  divine,  perfect. 
He  was  healed  instantaneously.  Eight  years  afterwards,  when 
passing  through  London,  the  mother  called  on  us,  as  she  said 
she  felt  she  must  come  and  thank  me  again,  because  her  son 
had  never  touched  drink  from  that  day.  This  is  one  of  several 
similar  cases ;  all  were  healed  instantaneously  and  permanently. 


414  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


IX.  How  TO  Pray 

The  true  method  of  prayer,  which  our  Master  taught  and 
demonstrated,  is  scientific  right  thinking,  "  deep  conscientious 
thinlving  of  God.  This  is  communion  with  God,  with  absolute 
good,  whereby  we  are  permanently  lifted  spiritually  to  a  better 
understanding  of  our  eternal  unity  with  God." 

Jesus  said :  "  If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me  "  (Luke  ix. 
23).  One  meaning  of  this  is  that  we  have  to  deny  the  reality, 
i.e.  permanence,  of  the  material;  take  up  in  thought  —  true 
prayer  —  our  difficulties,  one  by  one ;  and  follow  Jesus  in 
thought  to  God.  When  praying,  begin  by  getting  as  clear  a 
realisation  of  God  and  heaven  as  possible,  and  whilst  still  think- 
ing of  this  perfect  world,  deny  the  existence  in  it  of  the  par- 
ticular trouble  that  you  wish  to  get  rid  of.  Only  deny  it  once, 
and  let  this  denial  be  clear  and  decisive.  Then  think  of  the 
exact  opposite  of  the  evil  that  you  have  denied,  and  dwell  as 
long  as  you  can  on  the  perfection  of  this  opposite.  In  this  way 
you  can  deal,  one  after  the  other,  with  each  of  your  difficulties. 
This  constant  communion  with  God  is  "  The  practice  of  the 
presence  of  God."  St.  Peter  said  that  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
.  .  .  went  about  doing  good,  and  healing  all  those  who  were 
oppressed  of  the  devil;  for  God  was  with  him  "  (Acts  x.  38). 

i.  The  Key  to  the  Miracles. —  This  denial  of  the  evil  and 
affirmation  of  the  good  is  the  explanation  of  the  following 
words  of  our  Lord,  which  are  the  key  to  His  miracles :  "  Ye 
shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free  "  (John 
viii.  32),  and  again,  "  All  things  whatsoever  ye  [the  material 
man]  pray  and  ask  for,  believe  that  ye  [the  real  spiritual  man] 
have  received  them,  and  ye  [the  material  man]  shall  have 
them  "  (Mark  xi.  24,  Rev.  Ver.). 

It  may  be  asked,  "  How  do  we  know  what  is  the  truth?  " 
Jesus  said :  "  If  any  man  will  do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself  " 
(John  vii.  17).  Doing  the  will  is  thinking  rightly,  being  loyal 
to  God,  loyal  to  good,  giving  no  power  to  anything  but  God ; 
and  if  you  realise  that  you,  the  real  spiritual  man,  know  Truth, 
then  you,  the  material  man,  will  know  better  what  Truth  is, 
and  sooner  or  later  you  will  be  able  to  prove  your  knowledge 
of  Truth  habitually  by  the  performance  of  so-called  miracles; 
"  he  shall  have  whatsoever  he  saith  "  (Mark  xi.  23). 


RIGHT  THINKING  415 

ii.  Three  Points  only  Necessary. —  Adherence  to  the  follow- 
ing three  points  alone  is  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  results  : 

1.  Cease  thinking  altogether  of  a  material  world  or  of 
material  people.  "  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image  "  (Exodus  xx.  4),  any  false  concept  of  God's  world. 

2.  Strive  your  utmost  to  think  of  the  perfection  of  God  and 
the  glorious  conditions  of  heaven.  "  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in 
perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee"  (Is.  xxvi.  3). 

3.  Do  not  allow  yourself  to  think  that  God  will  not  act,  that 
is,  will  not  be  God.  This  is  a  belief  in  the  power  of  evil,  and 
to  do  this  is  to  close  the  human  mind,  which  prevents  the  ac- 
tion of  God  from  taking  place  through  you  as  through  a 
channel.  "  Fear  thou  not  .  .  .  the  Lord  thy  God  in  the  midst 
of  thee  is  mighty ;  he  will  save  "  (  Zeph.  iii.  16,  17). 

"Go  not  after  other  gods  to  serve  them"  (Jer.  xxv.  6). 
There  is  no  power  but  the  infinite  power  of  eternal  Love,  and 
this  is  ever  active,  always  available,  and  if  a  man  will  only 
think  rightly  in  the  way  above  shown  the  demonstration  will 
be  made  every  time. 

iii.  All  Troubles  disappear  through  Prayer. —  We  should 
pray  for  ourselves  regularly  twice  a  day,  morning  and  evening, 
just  as  in  earlier  days  we  used  to  pray  in  the  old  supplicatory 
manner,  morning  and  evening.  True  prayer  is  merely  right 
thinking,  that  is,  the  realisation  of  God  or  of  the  spiritual 
facts  concerning  God  and  man.  But  whereas  in  the  old  days 
we  used  to  think  that  a  few  minutes  were  quite  sufficient,  it  will 
be  found  that  it  is  well  worth  while  to  pray  for  oneself  for  at 
least  a  quarter  of  an  hour  each  time.  "  To  be  carnally  minded 
is  death;  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace.  Be- 
cause the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God  "  (Rom.  viii.  6). 

iv.  Results  the  only  Proof. —  There  is  no  proof  of  any 
theory  except  results.  "  These  signs  shall  follow  them  that 
believe ;  in  my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils ;  they  shall  speak 
with  new  tongues;  they  shall  take  up  serpents;  and  if  they 
drink  any  deadly  thing,  it  shall  not  hurt  them ;  they  shall  lay 
hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover  "  (Mark  xvi.  17,  18). 

This  power,  however,  was  not  limited  to  the  Apostles. 
Miracles,  including  the  raising  of  the  dead,  continued  to  be 
performed  by  the  early  Christians  for  over  three  centuries. 
Gibbon  writes  ironically  that  their  doctrine  "  was  confirmed 
by  innumerable  prodigies.  The  lame  walked,  the  blind  saw, 
the  sick  were  healed,  the  dead  were  raised  and  the  laws  of 
nature  were   frequently   suspended."     Our  Lord  said ;   "  He 


4i6  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

that  believeth  on  me  [the  "  true  nature,"  translated  "  name," 
of  our  Lord],  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also;  and  greater 
works  than  these  shall  he  do"  (John  xiv.  12).  In  fact,  no 
theory  is  of  the  slightest  value  except  for  the  benefits  which 
can  be  obtained  from  carrying  it  into  practice. 

Again  I  repeat  you  need  not  take  on  trust  a  word  of  what 
is  herein  stated.  It  is  better  not  to  believe  it  passively  but  to 
test  it  on  its  merits.  Then  you  will  prove  whether  it  is  true 
or  not,  and  will  build  upon  a  firm  foundation,  the  foundation  of 
ascertained  facts.  The  material  Rawson  cannot  help  you,  but 
he  can  show  you  how  to  turn  in  thought  to  God,  Who  is  the 
only  helper,  and  Who  will  save  you  from  any  trouble  if 
you  only  pray  rightly.  No  one  else  can  help  you,  although  it 
seems  as  if  they  could.  It  is  God's  business  to  look  after 
you.  He  will,  if  you  will  only  obey  His  commands,  for  "  I, 
even  I,  am  the  Lord :  and  besides  me  there  is  no  saviour  " 
(Is.  xliii.  11). 

Jesus  pointed  out  that  "  all  these  things  do  the  nations 
of  the  world  seek  after  [material  things]  :  and  your  Father 
knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  these  things.  But  rather  seek 
ye  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you.  Fear  not,  little  flock;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good 
pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom  "  (Luke  xii.  30-32),  show- 
ing that  it  is  through  the  action  of  God  that  we  seek  the 
kingdom. 

You  can  prove  it  all  for  yourself.  "  Prove  me  now  here- 
with, saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the 
windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there 
shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it  "  (Mai.  iii.  10).  Right 
away  from  the  start  you  can  get  results.  They  may  at  first 
be  small,  but  small  or  great  they  prove  the  principle.  The  best 
proof  I  have  had  that  this  is  the  true  method  of  prayer  is  that 
for  over  nineteen  years,  with  one  exception,  I  have  never  had 
any  one  come  to  me  who  has  asked  for  help  out  of  sin  where 
he  has  not  been  healed  instantaneously.  Only  in  one  case,  so 
far  as  I  know,  has  there  been  any  return,  and  then  I  had 
to  pray  for  him  twice  again.  The  one  failure  was  in  the  case 
of  a  man  who  wrote  for  help,  but  did  not  say  what  the  sin 
was,  and  unfortunately  he  was  shot  two  or  three  days  after- 
wards, 

V.  The  Secret  of  Life. —  Fortunately  the  secret  of  life  is 
very  simple.  We  must  never  think  a  thought  unlike  God 
if  we  can  possibly  help  it.     Every  thought  unlike  God  has  to 


RIGHT  THINKING  417 

be  reversed.  If,  for  instance,  you  see  some  one  crying,  turn 
to  heaven  and  realise  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  misery  in 
that  perfect  world.  Then  think  of  the  opposite  joy,  happiness, 
and  bliss  that  the  real  man  perpetually  experiences.  Both  of 
you  are  then  permanently  happier.  You  have  always  to  think 
of  the  real  w'orld  and  God's  man.  Then  you  are  continually 
helping  those  around  you.  "  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  which 
was  also  in  Jesus  Christ  "  (Phil.  ii.  5). 

"  Watch  and  pray  "  and  "  pray  without  ceasing  "  clearly 
mean  that  we  must  continually  watch  the  thoughts  that  come 
to  us  in  order  to  stop  harming  ourselves  by  thinking  of  evil, 
dwelling  instead  upon  God  and  God's  perfect  world  as  long 
as  possible.  "  The  Lord  is  with  you,  while  ye  be  with  him ; 
and  if  ye  seek  him,  he  will  be  found  of  you;  but  if  ye  forsake 
him,  he  will  forsake  you.  And  they  entered  into  a  covenant 
to  seek  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers  with  all  their  heart  and 
with  all  their  soul"   (2  Chron.  xv.  2,  12). 

Fortunately  the  practical  method  of  working  is  extremely 
simple  :  *'  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness; and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you  "  (Matt.  vi. 
33),  namely,  whenever  an  evil  thought  comes  to  us  we  have 
to  — 

1.  Think  of  God  and  heaven, 

2.  Deny  the  existence  in  heaven  of  the  evil  thought  of, 
and 

3.  Think  of  the  continual  existence  of  the  opposite  good  in 
that  perfect  world. 

Thus,  by  continually  reversing  wrong  thoughts  and  by  think- 
ing of  the  highest  good,  we  bring  good  into  our  lives,  and  the 
conditions  around  us  change.  This  change  is  always  for  the 
better  for  all  concerned.  The  greater  the  evil,  the  greater  the 
good  which  ensues  if  we  meet  it  properly  by  always  reversing 
wrong  thoughts.  This  is  why  St.  Paul  said :  "  Most  gladly 
therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmities,  that  the  power 
of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me  "  (2  Cor.  xii.  9).  The  nature  of 
evil  is  to  destroy  itself,  and  if  we  utilise  the  evil  thoughts 
which  come  to  us,  by  reversing  them,  they  act  as  a  spur  to 
right  thinking,  and  we  are  then  constantly  realising  the  world 
of  reality,  namely,  God  and  heaven. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  evil  ultimately  brings  about  its  own 
destruction,  and  by  the  reversal  of  wrong  thoughts  we  not 
only  permanently  help  ourselves  but  benefit  all  those  around 
us.     If,  for  instance,  the  thought  comes  into  our  mind,  "  How 


41 8  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

angry  that  man  is,"  we  have  harmed  the  man,  as  this  thought 
has  an  hypnotic  effect,  tending  to  make  him  more  angry.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  we  turn  to  heaven  and  "  know  the  truth," 
that  is,  reaHse  that  "  there  is  no  anger  "  (in  heaven),  we  have 
helped  the  man  temporarily,  as  the  evil  thoughts  attacking  him 
are  destroyed  by  the  action  of  God.  If  we  follow  this  by 
thinking  of  the  opposite,  that  is,  of  the  absolute  love  and  peace 
which  is  in  heaven,  we  have  helped  him  and  ourselves  per- 
manently, on  account  of  the  material  so-called  mind  being 
changed,  and  both  are  more  loving  and  less  susceptible  to  an 
angry  thought  in  the  future.  If  the  realisation  were  clear 
enough,  the  man  would  never  be  angry  again;  he  would  be 
permanently  healed. 

Every  wrong  or  limiting  thought  has  to  be  dealt  with  in 
this  way.  When  somebody  tells  you,  for  instance,  that  his 
child  is  always  telling  lies,  turn  to  heaven  and  realise  as 
clearly  as  you  possibly  can  that  "God's  man  never  lies;  for 
God  is  Truth  and  man  is  made  in  His  image  and  likeness; 
therefore  man  is  absolutely  truthful."  If  you  can  get  a  clear 
enough  realisation  of  this  as  a  fact,  the  child  will  never  lie 
again;  the  human  so-called  mind  of  the  child  will  be  per- 
manently purified  in  this  respect,  and  cannot,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, respond  again  to  lying  thoughts.  "  Whose  soever 
sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them  "?  (John  xx.  23). 
The  denial  gives  only  temporary  relief;  the  affirmation  is  the 
permanent  healing,  the  purification  of  the  human  soul,  the 
extent  of  which  depends  upon  the  clearness  of  the  realisation 
of  the  truth  of  the  statements  mentally  made.  Although  the 
evil  may  reappear  it  will  always  be  diminished  in  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  right  thinking  one  has  done.  This  necessity  for 
thinking  of  absolute  good,  called  God,  is  the  explanation  of  the 
first  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before 
me  "  (Ex.  XX.  3).  We  should  always  keep  our  mind  "  stayed 
on  thee  "  (Is.  xxvi.  3),  "  stayed  "  on  God.  This  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  passage :  "  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the 
unrighteous  man  his  thoughts :  and  let  him  return  [in  thought] 
unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  him  "  (Is.  Iv.  7). 
Especially  should  we  never  allow  ourselves  to  harm  our  fellow- 
man  by  thinking  wrongly  of  him.  ..."  Let  none  of  you 
imagine  evil  in  your  hearts  against  his  neighbour  "  (Zech. 
viii.  17). 

vi.  Pray  without  ceasing. —  Every  thought  and  every  false 
sense  of  every  kind  has  to  be  immediately  reversed.     Fortu- 


.       RIGHT  THINKING  419 

nately  this  is  the  only  thing  about  which  you  have  to  trouble. 
This  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  our  so-called  life.  If  you 
will  only  do  this,  all  troubles  will  vanish,  and  you  will  find 
life  well  worth  living.  Joy  will  be  the  rule  instead  of  the  ex- 
ception. Man's  progress  heavenwards,  to  the  realm  of  per- 
fection, depends  solely  upon  the  number  of  seconds  through- 
out the  twenty-four  hours  in  which  he  is  thinking  of  God 
and  heaven.  "  Watch  and  pray  "  and  "  pray  without  ceasing." 
Use  every  wrong  thought  as  a  signpost  to  turn  you  back  to 
God.  While  we  are  working  in  this  way,  the  action  of  God  is 
continually  taking  place,  purifying  our  minds.  This  is  dwell- 
ing "  in  the  secret  place  of  the  most  High  "  (Ps.  xci.  i)  ;  this 
is  entering  "  into  thy  closet."  Such  action  is  the  only  thing 
that  is  worth  doing  in  this  material  world  and  is  true  prayer, 
namely,  active,  conscious  communion  with  God,  whereby  we 
are  constantly  obtaining  a  better  knowledge  of  God.  "  This 
is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee,  the  only  true  God  " 
(John  xvii.  3). 

vii.  The  Results  of  Right  Thinking. —  The  first  result  of 
learning  how  to  think  rightly  is  that  we  find  a  scientific,  and 
therefore  sure,  method  of  purifying  our  mind  and  so  getting 
rid  of  sin.  We  all  of  us,  unfortunately,  have  something  in 
which  we  wish  to  be  better.  "  Be  ye  transformed  by  the  re- 
newing of  your  mjnd  "  (Rom.  xii.  2).  This  purification  of 
the  carnal  mind  is  due  to  the  action  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by 
Whose  work  our  Lord  said  "  The  prince  of  this  world  [mate- 
rial sense]  is  judged"  (John  xvi.  11).  "Judgement"  is  the 
destruction  of  matter  and  the  resultant  evil,  by  separating  the 
good  from  the  evil  through  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
causing  a  man  to  reverse  a  wrong  thought,  as  already  shown. 

Secondly,  if  you  get  your  realisation  of  God  clear  enough 
you  can  heal  a  man  instantaneously  of  any  kind  of  sin  or 
disease. 

Thirdly,  you  can  help  yourself  or  any  one  else  out  of  any 
trouble  under  the  sun.  "  Seek  ye  the  kingdom  of  God;  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you  "  (Luke  xii.  31).  It 
is  only  a  question  of  how  soon  the  trouble  disappears ;  every 
time  you  reverse  your  thought  there  is  a  permanent  improve- 
ment. "  The  eternal  God  is  thy  refuge  and  underneath  are 
the  everlasting  arms  "  (Deut.  xxxiii.  27). 

Fourthly,  sooner  or  later,  you  must  obtain  perfect  peace  of 
mind  and  happiness ;  for  "  my  presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and 
I  will  give  thee  rest"   (Ex.  xxxiii.  14).     You  will  then  un- 


420  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

derstand  the  meaning  of  the  words,  "  the  peace  of  God,  which 
passeth  all  understanding"  (Phil.  iv.  7). 

X.  Be  Selfless 

In  order  to  obtain  really  good  results  we  have  to  be  selfless. 
"I  do  nothing  of  myself"  (John  viii.  28).  We  must  not 
rely  on  our  own  human  opinions  and  try  to  use  our  own 
human  will.  "Be  not  conformed  to  this  world:  but  be  ye 
transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may 
prove  what  is  that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of 
God"  (Rom.  xii.  2).  "Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God" 
(Ps.  xlvi.  10).  We  have  to  rely  on  God  and  allow  the  action 
of  God  to  take  place.  "  The  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he 
doeth  the  works  "  (John  xiv.  10).  "  And  greater  works  than 
these  shall  he  [that  believeth  on  me]  do"  (John  xiv.  12). 
The  material  man  can  do  nothing  except  get  himself  out  of 
the  way.  God  then  works  by  means  of  the  real,  spiritual 
man,  who  is  God's  consciousness,  by  means  of  which  he  thinks 
and  knows  and  works.  We  are  "  workers  together  with 
him  "  (2  Cor.  vi.  i).  "  We  are  labourers  together  with  God  " 
(i  Cor.  iii.  9).  This  action  of  God  destroys  the  evil  thoughts 
that  come  and  harm  the  material  man,  and  if  we  will  only 
rely  sufficiently  on  God  and  keep  on  praying  in  the  right 
method,  ultimately  all  difficulties  will  disappear.  Even  fear 
becomes  a  thing  of  the  past,  "  For  the  Lord  shall  be  thy  con- 
fidence "  (Prov.  iii.  26).  We  are  so  apt  to  try  to  get  our 
own  will  carried  out,  which  is  more  like  endeavouring  to  teach 
God  His  business  than  prayer,  true  prayer  being  conscious  com- 
munion with  God,  holy  adoration.  We  can  safely  rest  in 
thought  on  God,  leaving  all  in  His  hands. 

We  all  agree  with  Paul's  words :  "  For  what  I  would,  that 
do  I  not;  but  what  I  hate,  that  do  I  "  (Rom.  vii.  15).  The 
only  way  by  which  we  can  alter  this  is  true  prayer,  the  realisa- 
tion of  God  and  God's  perfect  world.  Our  Lord  put  it  more 
absolutely  than  any  one  else;  He  said :  "  Be  ye  therefore  per- 
fect, even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect  "  (Matt. 
V.  48).  The  only  method  of  reaching  this  ideal  state  is  shown 
by  the  Prophet  Isaiah,  as  follows :  "  Look  unto  me  and  be  ye 
saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth :  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is 
none  else"  (Is.  xiv.  22).  "And  they  shall  teach  no  more 
every  man  his  neighbour,  and  every  man  his  brother,  saying, 
Know  the  Lord :  for  they  shall  all  know  me,  from  the  least 


RIGHT  THINKING  421 

of  them  unto  the  greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord;  for  I  will 
forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  remember  their  sin  no  more  " 
(Jer.  xxxi.  34).  "And  it  shall  be  said  in  that  day,  Lo,  this 
is  our  God;  we  have  waited  for  him,  and  he  will  save  us  "  (Is. 
XXV.  9). 

XL   Prove  all  Things 

Do  not  try  to  force  your  opinion  upon  others,  nor  give  up 
anything  you  believe  that  makes  you  and  those  around  you 
better  and  happier.  Give  up  nothing  until  you  find  some- 
thing better.  In  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "Prove  all  things; 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good  ''  (  i  Thess.  v.  21 ). 

Through  persistent  prayers  matter  gradually  disappears,  and 
when  a  sufficient  number  habitually  think  rightly,  all  matter, 
with  its  resultant  evils,  will  cease  its  apparent  existence^  and 
w^e  shall  all  wake  up  to  find  ourselves  in  an  absolutely  perfect 
world,  the  world  of  reality,  God's  world.  "  For  the  things 
which  are  seen  are  temporal ;  but  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  are  eternal"  (2  Cor.  iv.  18).  "Your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God"  (Cor.  iii.  3),  and  "When  he  shall  appear 
we  shall  be  like  him  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is  "  ( i  John 
iii.  2).  "I  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness  " 
(Ps.  xvii.  15). 

Let  no  one  fear  this  miscalled  "  end  of  the  world,"  for 
when  "  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  "  is  "  dissolved, 
we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens"  (2  Cor.  v.  i).  Nor  need  we  wait 
for  this  wonderful  day.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within,  and 
from  the  summit  of  ceaseless  true  prayer,  uplifting  conscious 
communion  with  God,  all  the  grandeur  and  the  minutiae  of 
spiritual  creation  will  be  found  to  unfold  until  they  stand 
revealed  as  they  ever  have  been,  are.  and  will  be.  in  the  sight 
of  God,  perfect  and  uncontaminable.  Then  shall  w^e  see 
'  God's  man.  as  perfect  as  God  his  Creator,  a  perpetual  witness 
to  the  continual  unfoldment  of  inexhaustible  good. 


XX 

RULES  AND  METHODS:  CHAPTERS  IN  THE 
HISTORY  OF  PRAYER 

BY 

WILLIAM  LOFTUS  HARE 

DIRECTOR    OF    STUDIES    IN     COMPARATIVE    RELIGION     AND     PHILOSOPHY    TO    THE 
THEOSOPHICAL     SOCIETY,     LONDON 


XX 

RULES  AND  METHODS:  CHAPTERS  IN 
THE  PHSTORY  OF  PRAYER  ^ 

I.  Hindu  Yoga 

Religious  magic,  which  in  its  best  forms  aims  at  the  welfare 
of  the  soul,  is,  according  to  its  most  notable  practitioners, 
dependent  for  its  success  upon  certain  conditions  of  the 
psycho-physical  organism,  and  these  states  in  their  turn  are 
dependent  on  mental  and  bodily  discipline  called  tapas;  in  this 
we  may  see  the  origin  of  Yoga. 

When,  contrary  to  the  natural  desires,  with  all  experience, 
for  life,  pleasure,  and  prosperity,  there  is  exhibited  a  self- 
mastery  which  voluntarily  submits  to  privations,  with  the  sole 
object  of  subduing  the  selfish  impulses  of  nature,  it  is  as 
though  a  more  than  human  power  had  been  thus  manifested 
in  man,  which,  springing  from  the  deepest  roots  of  his  being, 
exalts  him  far  above  the  world  of  selfish  interests.  Accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  Vedic  myths,  tapas  was  a  thing  of  this  kind ; 
it  gave  power  to  all  those  who  resorted  to  it.  Kings  protected 
their  realms  by  tapas;  a  student  performed  his  duty  by  tapas. 
Truth  and  right,  nay,  even  the  Universe  itself,  were  supported 
by  tapas;  and  as  one  of  the  hymns  of  the  Rig-Veda  affirms, 
the  souls  "  have  won  their  way  by  tapas  to  the  light."  ^ 

All  this  goes  to  show  the  rationale  of  ascetic  discipline  from 
the  ancient  Hindu  point  of  view,  a  view  that  has  steadily  per- 
sisted to  this  day  and  that  has  been  present  in  all  forms  of 
voluntary  practice  that  India  has  produced. 

i.   Yoga  in  the  Upanishads 

When  the  Brahmanical  literature  had  reached  a  certain 
point,  a  philosophy  developed  in  the  Ruling  Caste  which  in 
a  quiet  way  began  to  contest  with  Vedic  ritualism  ;  it  permeated 
the  forest  settlements,  and  in  process  of  time  added  a  further 

1  Only  some  portions  of  this  essay  h.ive  been  selected   for  publication. —  Editoks. 

2  See  Deussen,  Philosophy  of  the   Upanishads. 


426  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

link,  and  the  most  important  one,  to  the  chain  of  books.  For 
the  Upanishads  were  the  product  of  the  idea  of  the  unity  of 
all  life;  they  enshrined  and  preserved  the  famous  Vedanta 
doctrine  of  Idealism  and  gradually  and  powerfully  worked 
against  all  Externalism  until  the  Externalists  themselves  so 
captured  the  doctrine  and  the  literature  that  it  seemed  to  be 
the  flower  of  their  system.  What,  then,  was  the  central  con- 
ception of  the  Upanishads?  I  will  quote  the  words  of  Dr. 
Paul  Deussen,  by  way  of  answer : 

Brahman  equals  Atman;  that  is  to  say,  Brahman,  the  power  which 
presents  itself  to  us,  materialised  in  all  existing  things,  which  creates, 
sustains,  preserves  and  receives  back  into  itself  again  all  worlds, 
this  eternal,  infinite.  Divine  power  is  identical  with  the  Atman,  with 
that  which,  after  stripping  off  everything  external,  we  discover  in 
ourselves  as  our  most  real  essential  being,  our  individual  self,  the 
soul.  This  identity  of  the  Brahman  and  the  Atman,  of  God  and  the 
Soul,  is  the  fundamental  thought  of  the  entire  doctrine  of  the 
Upanishads. 

Now,  although  the  concept  can  be  thus  briefly  stated,  the 
journey  is  a  long  and  difficult  one  of  jnanayoga,  an  intellectual 
effort  which,  unequalled  in  its  lofty  aim,  was  supported  by 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  discipline  of  a  very  elaborate  na- 
ture. The  Chandogya  Upanishad,  of  great  antiquity,  imme- 
diately plunges  into  the  question  of  meditation.  The  passages 
which  follow  are  interpretations  and  paraphrases  based  on  the 
translation  of  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  which  is  rather  too 
technical  for  my  present  purpose. 

Meditation  on  Oin 

The  mere  ritual  recitation  of  the  syllable  Om  is  of  little  importance, 
but  if  a  man  should  perform  this  with  knowledge,  faith,  and  with  the 
secret  method  of  concentration,  then  it  is  more  powerful.  .  .  . 

He  who  knows  this,  and  by  mental  concentration  identifies  the 
Imperishable  with  the  breath  in  the  mouth  in  chanting  Om,  obtains 
all  his  wishes  by  such  efforts. 

Now  with  regard  to  concentration  on  Divine  matters.  Let  a 
man  by  concentration  identify  the  chanted  syllable  Om  with  the 
Sun,  remembering  that  the  sun  chants  to  all  creatures  and  destroys 
fear.  He  who  realises  this  destroys  the  fear  of  ignorance.  Let 
him  remember  that  the  breath  in  the  mouth  at  the  chanting  Om  and 
the  Sun  are  the  same;  therefore  let  a  man  hy  concentration  realise 
this  identity.^ 

This  Om  meditation  is  a  constantly  recurring  theme  in 
Yoga  literature;  several  Upanishads  are  devoted  to  it,  and  it 

3  Chand.  Up.,  I.  i.,  ii.,  iii. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  427 

appears  in  the  Yoga  Sutras;  it  is  therefore  worth  while  trying 
to  master  its  meaning  at  this  stage.  I  think  it  means  this: 
that  the  sacrificer  who  would  ordinarily  be  chanting  the  ritual 
hymns  is  to  use  the  syllable  Om  with  special  and  new  signifi- 
cance. As  he  chants  it  he  is  to  identify  by  mental  concentra- 
tion the  vibrating  breath  in  his  mouth  with  the  Imperishable 
Brahman. 

Meditation  on  Braliman 

When  from  thence  he  has  risen  upwards  he  neither  rises  nor 
sets.  He  is  alone,  stantUng  in  the  centre,  and  to  him  who  knows  this 
secret  doctrine  "  for  him  it  is  day,  once  and  for  all." 

The  Brahman,  which  has  been  described  as  immortal,  is  the  same 
as  the  ether  which  is  around  us ;  and  that  is  the  same  as  the  ether 
within  us;  that  is,  the  ether  that  is  within  the  heart.  That  in  the 
heart  (as  Brahman)  is  omnipresent  and  unchanging;  he  who  realises 
this  obtains  omnipresent  and  unchangeable  happiness. 

"  Now  that  light  which  shines  above  this  heaven,  higher  than  all, 
higher  than  everything,  in  the  highest  world,  beyond  which  there 
are  no  other  worlds  —  that  is  the  same  light  which  is  within  man."* 

These  stilted,  technical,  and  somewhat  repellent  passages 
(with  a  great  deal  that  I  have  omitted)  lead  up  to  the  following 
majestic  finale  in  which  the  philosopher  soars  above  the  need 
of  sacrificial  ritual  to  unity  with  Brahman. 

All  this  is  Brahman.  Let  a  man  concentrate  on  the  visible  world 
as  beginning,  ending,  and  breathing  in  Brahman.  Now  man  is  a 
creature  of  will.  According  to  what  his  will  is  in  this  world,  so 
will  he  be  v/hen  he  has  departed  this  life. 

Let  him  therefore  have  this  will  ar.d  belief:  the  Intelligent,  whose 
body  is  spirit,  whose  form  is  light,  whose  thoughts  are  true,  whose 
nature  is  omnipresent  and  invisible  like  space,  from  whom  all  work, 
all  desires,  all  sweet  odours  and  tastes  proceed;  he  who  embraces  all 
this,  w-ho  never  speaks,  and  is  never  surprised  — 

He  is  myself  within  the  heart,  smaller  than  a  corn  of  rice,  smaller 
than  a  corn  of  barley.  He  also  is  myself  within  the  heart,  greater 
than  the  earth,  greater  than  the  sky,  greater  than  heaven,  greater 
than  these  worlds. 

?Te,  mvself  within  the  heart,  is  that  Brahman.  He  who  has  this 
faith  and  no  doubt  shall  obtain  Brahman." 

ii.  The  Yoga  Sutras  of  Patanjali 

Sutras  are  short,  terse  sentences  of  a  mnemonic  character, 
having  little  or  no  meaning  to  the  uninitiated.     They  are  pre- 

4  Chand.  Up..  III.  xi.,  xii.,  xiii. 

5  Ibid.  III.  xiv. 


428  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

served  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  instruction  of  pupils. 
When  accompanied  with  a  commentary  these  sutras  are  ren- 
dered intelligible,  but  here,  as  in  most  things,  "  doctors 
disagree." 

I  now  propose  to  examine  the  leading  ideas  of  these  sutras. 
After  a  rational  demonstration  of  the  universe  has  been  made 
by  means  of  the  Sankhya  or  "  enumeration  "  of  the  24  ele- 
ments of  Nature  we  read: —  (i)  Nozv  an  exposition  of  Yoga 
is  to  be  made.  The  simplest  definition  is  given  in  the  sutra: 
(2)  Yoga  is  the  suppression  of  the  modifications  of  the  think- 
ing principle.  The  thinking  principle  is  not  the  self;  it  has  a 
tendency  to  transform  itself  into  objects  and  thoughts  and 
represent  them  to  the  self  —  Purusha.  This  tendency  has  to 
be  checked,  and  its  checking  and  successful  suppression  is  the 
effort  called  "Yoga."  When  this  is  attained  (3)  The  seer 
abides  in  himself,  not  in  the  objects  or  thoughts  of  the  thinking 
principle,  as  heretofore.  Indeed,  the  abiding  in  oneself  is  to 
become  the  normal  state  of  the  Yogin.  (4)  Othenvise  he 
becomes  assimilated  with  the  modifications  of  the  thinking 
principle,  and  he  secures  the  painful  and  the  pleasurable  expe- 
riences of  that  association. 

(12)  The  suppression  of  the  modification  of  the  thinking 
principle  is  secured  by  application  and  non-attachment.  (14) 
By  application  it  becomes  a  position  of  firmness,  being  prac- 
tised without  intermission  and  imth  perfect  devotion.  So  long 
as  the  Yogin  has  thirst  for  material  or  even  spiritual  goods  he 
cannot  attain  to  the  suppression  of  the  modifications  of  the 
thinking  principle. 

The  aim  of  life  as  conceived  by  the  Yogin  may  be  thus 
described.  The  powers  attained  are  powers  over  Prakriti, 
Nature;  first,  that  portion  of  it  which  is  constituted  by  man's 
body  and  mind;  and  secondly,  that  which  is  external  to  him. 
Nature  is  said  to  have  three  qualities  or  giinas,  inert  and  dark, 
passionate  and  uncontrolled,  rhythmical  and  pure.  The  Yogin 
is  to  transform  the  lower  into  the  higher  qualities.  He  begins 
his  discipline  with  a  large  measure  of  tamas  and  rajas  qualities 
and  a  small  measure  of  sattva  quality;  this  last  increases  in 
accordance  with  his  Yoga.  The  time  comes  when  his  share 
of  Nature  reaches  its  maximum  sattva  state,  and  no  longer,  as 
formerly,  causes  the  seeming  imprisonment  of  Purusha,  the 
spirit.  The  concluding  sutras  describe  this  state  called 
kaivdlya,  aloofness. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  429 

iii.  Yoga  in  the  Bhagavad  Gitd 

This  is  an  appropriate  moment  at  which  to  refer,  briefly,  to 

the  teaching  of  Yoga  in  the  Gita.     Readers  of  that  work  will 

remember  the  constant  iteration  of  the  doctrine  of  the  essential 

purity  of  the  soul. 

....  Impenetrable, 
Unentered,   unassailed,   unharmed,   untouched, 
Immortal,  all-arrivinicf,  stable,  sure, 
Invisible,  ineffable,  by  word 
And  thought  uncompassed,  ever  all  itself 
Such  is  the  Soul  declared.^ 

There  is  no  question  of  purifying  or  improving  the  soul;  it 
is,  according  to  the  Sankhya  doctrine,  essentially  perfect  and 
eternal.  The  mind,  the  senses,  the  body,  the  individual  appor- 
tionment of  Nature  to  each  Soul  —  these  are  imperfect,  im- 
pure and  suffering.  A  man's  share  of  Prakriti  has  to  be 
brought  to  an  equal  purity  with  the  Soul,  and  all  its  sufferings 
will  cease.  I  may  here  recall,  therefore,  the  declaration  of  the 
Sutras  of  Kapila  as  to  the  complete  end  of  man  being  the  com- 
plete cessation  of  pain,  and  I  may  add  that  the  Yoga  discipline 
purports  to  grant  this  desirable  experience  by  making  it  possible 
to  discriminate  the  Soul  from  Nature  in  fact,  while  the 
Sankhya  philosophy  does  so  theoretically. 

I  will  conclude  with  a  few  sentences  setting  forth  the  re- 
ligious significance  of  the  Yoga  system.  In  the  Sutras  of 
Kapila  and  Patanjali  there  is  little  or  nothing  about  God.  The 
Sankhya  system  was  atheistic  and  the  Yoga  only  by  a  hair's- 
breadth  "  theistic."  We  see  in  it  an  admirable  discipline  for 
gaining  certain  ends,  but  little  that  seems  to  overflow  as  it  were 
into  the  world  and  affect  society.  The  ethico-religious  aspect 
of  Yoga  is  fully  developed  in  the  Upanishads  and  the  Gita, 
from  which  I  will  now  quote  a  few  passages.  Of  the  Yogin 
it  is  said : 

He  knows  nothing  further  of  sickness,  old  age  or  suffering. 

Who   gains   a  body   out  of  the   fire   of  Yoga. 

Activity,  health,  freedom  from  desire, 

A  fair  countenance,  beauty  of  voice, 

A  pleasant  odour,  fewness  of  secretions, 

Therein  at  first  the  Yoga  displays  its  power.'' 

He  who  through  thousands  of  births 
Does  not  exhaust  the  guilt  of  his  sins 
Sees  finally  by  the  Yoga 
The  destruction  of   Samsara  even  here.^ 

6  II.  8  Yogasiras.   lo. 

7  Svetasvatara  Upanishad,  II.  12-13. 


430  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

In  the  Gita,  it  will  be  remembered,  a  noble  attempt  is  made  to 
unite  the  different  religious  philosophies  of  the  day.  Krishna, 
here  called  the  Lord  of  Yoga,  speaking  as  the  Divinity,  ex- 
pounds in  many  beautiful  passages  the  method  and  religious 
aim  of  Yoga.     I  will  quote  one  in  conclusion : 

A  yogin  should  constantly  devote  himself  to  abstraction,  remaining 
in  a  secret  place,  alone  with  his  mind  and  senses  restrained,  without 
expectations  and  without  belongings.  Fixing  his  seat  firmly  in  a 
clean  place,  not  too  high  nor  too  low  .  .  .  fixing  his  mind  exclusively 
on  one  point,  with  the  workings  of  the  mind  and  senses  restrained, 
he  should  practise  devotion.  Holding  his  body,  head,  and  neck  even 
and  unmoved,  remaining  steady,  looking  at  the  tip  of  his  own  nose, 
and  not  looking  about  in  all  directions,  with  a  tranquil  self,  devoid 
.  of  fear  ...  he  should  restrain  his  mind,  and  concentrate  it  on 
Me,  and  sit  down  engaged  in  devotion,  regarding  Me  as  his  final 
goal.  Thus  constantly  engaged  in  devotion  he  attains  to  that  tran- 
quillity which  culminates  in  final  emancipation,  and  assimilation, 
with  Me.  .  .  . 

Thus  constantly  devoting  his  self  to  abstraction,  a  yogin,  freed 
from  sin,  easily  obtains  that  supreme  happiness  —  assimilation  with 
the  Brahman.  He  who  has  devoted  his  self  to  abstraction,  by  de- 
votion, looking  alike  on  everything,  sees  the  Self  abiding  in  all  beings, 
and  all  beings  abiding  in  the  Self.  To  him  who  sees  Me  in  every- 
thing, and  everything  in  Me,  I  am  never  lost  and  he  is  not  lost  in 
Me.  The  devotee  who  worships  Me,  abiding  in  all  beings,  holding 
that  all  is  One,  lives  in  Me,  however  he  may  appear  to  be  living. 

This  Yoga,  higher  than  that  of  Kapila  or  Patanjali,  is 
rightly  called  the  Raja- Yoga,  because  it  is  King  of  all  the 
others.  Its  aim  is  the  highest  for  the  Soul,  its  influence  the 
most  beneficial  for  the  world.  It  conforms  to  my  concept  of 
prayer  as  volitional  religion,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  best  Indian 
form  of  prayer. 

II.  Buddhist  Jhana 

The  Buddhist  equivalent  to  Yoga  is  the  subject  of  the  present 
section. 

The  Buddha  appeared  in  the  midst  of  an  already  ancient  and 
by  no  means  decadent  civilisation  founded  by  the  Aryan  race 
on  the  basis  of  an  earlier  social  order  of  a  more  primitive 
character.  Historical  research  points  to  great  material  pros- 
perity, well  established  customs,  and  a  general  ease  derived 
from  the  fertility  of  nature.  Philosophy  and  religion  were 
held  in  great  respect  by  the  rulers  and  people  alike  of  the 
large  states  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Punjab.  The  doctrines  of 
the  Upanishads  had  expressed  strongly  the  sense  of  the  unity 


RULES  AND  METHODS  431 

of  life,  and  the  prevailing  tenderness  towards  life  was  illus- 
trated by  the  doctrines  of  ahimsa  or  "  non-injury,"  while  the 
numerous  orders  of  ascetics  had  both  preached  and  practised 
"  detachment ''  from  life  as  a  means  of  liberation  from 
Samsara. 

The  discourses  of  the  Buddha  make  it  clear  to  us  that  in 
turning  round  upon,  analysing  and  criticising  the  great  civili- 
sation of  which  he  was  a  member,  he  was  doing  no  strange  or 
unusual  thing;  but  what  indeed  was  remarkable  about  his 
work  was  his  thorough,  orderly,  and  scientific  procedure: 
and  this  was  but  one  expression  of  his  rich  and  beautiful 
character. 

The  well-known  Noble  Path  has  eight  branches  which  fall 
into  tJiree  divisions : 

i.    Panna,  Enlightenment  i  '•  f.-^'\  ^"^7 J^"^^"^ 
'  '^  (2.  Right  Mindedness 

[3.  Right  Speech 

ii.  Sila,  Morality^  4.  Right  Action 

L5.  Right  Living 

r6.  Right  Effort 

iii.  Saniadhi,  Concentration-^  7.  Right  Attentiveness 

[8.  Right  Concentration 

The  third  section,  Samddhi,  is  the  Buddhist  system  of 
prayer. 

A.  The  Relation  of  Meditation  to  Conduct 

Before  giving  details  of  the  practice  of  meditation  employed 
by  the  Buddhists,  I  wish  to  make  clear  the  close  cohesion  of 
the  various  parts  of  the  life-ideal.  The  eightfold  path  does 
not  mean  that  there  are  eight  successive  steps,  the  first  being 
right  understanding.  The  fact  is,  the  advance  should  be  sim- 
ultaneous in  all  the  eight  elements  of  the  path ;  and  each  one 
strengthens  the  other.  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  beau- 
tiful words  of  the  Suttas,  explaining  the  relation  between 
understanding,  morality,  and  meditation.  The  passage  is  from 
Professor  Rhys  Davids'  translation  :^ 

(a)  For  wisdom  is  purified  by  uprightness,  and  uprightness  is 
purified  by  wisdom.  Where  there  is  uprightness,  wisdom  is  there, 
and  where   there   is   wisdom,   uprightness   is  there.  .  .  .  Just   as   we 

0  The  English  equivalents  for  the  Pali  terms  vary  according  tc  the  translators; 
I  therefore  give   here  a  parallel  to  avoid   confusion. 

Paiina  —  Enlightenment,    understanding,    intelligence,    wisdom. 

Sila  =  Morality,    upright   conduct,   right   action. 

Samadhi  r=  Concentration,    meditation,    earnest    contemplation  —  i.e,    prayer. 


432  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

might  wash  hand  with  hand  or  foot  with  foot,  even  so  is  wisdom 
purified  by  uprightness  and  uprightness  by  wisdom.^" 

(b)  Now,  it  was  while  the  Blessed  One  was  staying  there  at 
Rajagaha  on  the  Vulture's  Peak  that  he  held  that  comprehensive 
religious  talk  with  the  brethren,  saying :  "  Such  and  such  is  upright 
conduct  (sUa)  ;  such  and  such  is  earnest  contemplation  {samddhi)  ; 
such  and  such  is  intelligence  (pannd).  Great  becomes  the  fruit, 
great  the  advantage  of  earnest  contemplation,  when  it  is  set  round 
with  upright  conduct.  Great  becomes  the  fruit,  great  the  advantage 
of  intellect  when  it  is  set  round  with  earnest  contemplation.  The 
mind  set  round  with  intelligence  is  quite  set  free  of  Intoxication,  of 
Sensuality,  of  Becoming,  of  Delusion,  and  of  Ignorance.  "  ^^ 

Meditation  is  part  of  the  effort  to  escape  from  this  Samsdra 
—  this  Avidya,  by  becoming  enlightened. 

B.  Right  Effort  and  Right  Attentiveness 

The  general  principle  of  action  profKDsed  in  Buddhist  disci- 
pline is  that  every  action  should  be  a  deed;  unconscious  activity 
is  to  be  avoided,  and  its  realm  invaded  by  the  will.  The 
disciple  is  to  be  "  mindful  and  self-possessed."  The  following 
words  of  the  Master  illustrate  the  idea : 

Let  a  Brother  be  mindful  and  self-possessed:  this  is  our  instruc- 
tion to  you.  .  .  .  Herein  a  Brother  continues  so  to  look  upon  the  body 
that  he  remains  strenuous,  self-possessed  and  mindful,  having  over- 
come both  the  hankering  and  dejection  common  to  the  world.  .  .  . 
He  acts  in  full  presence  of  mind  whatever  he  may  do,  in  going  out 
or  coming  in,  in  looking  forward  or  in  looking  round,  in  bending  his 
arm  or  in  stretching  it  forth,  in  wearing  his  robes  or  in  carrying  his 
bowl,  in  eating  or  drinking,  in  masticating  or  swallowing,  in  obeying 
the  calls  of  nature,  in  walking  or  standing  or  sitting,  in  sleeping  or 
waking,  in  talking  or  in  being  silent. ^^ 

The  disciple  begets  in  himself  the  will  to  overcome  evil,  unwhole- 
some things  that  have  arisen,  and  summoning  all  his  strength,  he 
struggles  and  strives  and  incites  his  mind.  He  does  not  allow  a 
thought  of  greed,  anger  or  delusion  that  has  arisen  to  find  a  foothold ; 
he  suppresses  it,  expels  it,  annihilates  it,  causes  it  to  disappear.^^ 

...  or.  with  teeth  clenched  and  tongue  pressed  against  the  palate, 
he  should  suppress  these  thoughts  with  his  mind;  and  in  doing  so, 
these  evil,  unwholesome  thoughts  of  greed,  anger  or  delusion  will 
dissolve  and  disappear,  and  the  mind  become  settled  and  quiet,  con- 
centrated and  strong.^* 

I  view  the  seventh  link  on  the  path  as  being  an  effort  to 
interpret  all  the  phenomena  of  experience  in  accordance  with 

10  Saradanda-Sutta,  21. 

11  Maha  Pariftibbana   Suttanta,   I.    12. 

12  Maha  Parinibbana   Suttanta,   II.    13,    14, 

13  /4nf;uttara  Nikaya,  IV,  13,  14. 

14  Majjhima  Nskdya,  JCX. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  433 

reality.  The  meditation  now  to  be  described  passes  in  formal 
review  (i)  the  body  and  its  functions;  (2)  sensations;  (3) 
mental  processes;  and  (4)  all  external  phenomena.  Its  object 
is  clearly  to  provide  a  constant  means  of  recollecting  the  exact 
significance  of  things  and  of  not  being  misled  by  them  into 
straying  from  the  path.  It  is  a  rigid  analysis  in  whith,  one 
by  one,  every  experience  of  daily  life  is  examined  with  scien- 
tific precision  so  that  the  whole  aggregate  may  be  contemplated 
as  what  it  really  is.  The  Buddha  regarded  this  exercise  of 
the  greatest  importance,  as  the  opening  passage  makes  clear : 

There  is  but  one  way  open  to  mortals  for  the  attainment  of  purity, 
for  the  overcoming  of  sorrow  and  lamentation,  for  the  abolition  of 
misery  and  grief,  for  the  acquisition  of  the  correct  rule  of  conduct, 
for  the  realisation  of  Nirvana,  and  that  is  "  the  Four  Foundations 
of  Attentiveness." 

The  Sutta  from  which  I  have  quoted  ends  with  the  following 
remarkable  promise  of  perfect  enlightenment  in  this  life,  or 
liberation  from  Samsara. 

Any  one  who  for  seven  years  shall  thus  practise  these  Four  Foun- 
dations of  Attentiveness  may  expect  one  or  the  other  of  two  results: 
either  he  will  attain  to  perfect  knowledge  in  this  present  life,  or 
...  at  death,  to  never  returning  when  this  present  life  is  ended. 

But  setting  aside  all  question  of  seven  years  .  .  .  six  years,  .  .  . 
five  years,  .  .  .  four  years,  .  .  .  three  years,  ,  .  .  two  years,  .  .  .  one 
year,  .  .  .  seven  months,  .  .  .  six  months,  .  .  .  five  months,  .  .  . 
four  months,  .  .  .  three  months,  .  .  .  two  months,  .  .  .  one  month, 
.  .  .  half  month,  any  one  who  for  seven  days  shall  thus  practise 
the  above  Four  Foundations  of  Attentiveness  may  expect  one  or  the 
other  of  the  two  results :  either  he  will  attain  to  perfect  knowledge  in 
this  present  life,  or  to  never  returning  when  this  present  life  is  ended. 

C.  Right  Concentration 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  the  aforementioned 
effort  and  attentiveness  are  intended  to  produce  two  kinds  of 
fruit ;  namely,  a  higher  degree  of  morality  and  a  higher  degree 
of  knowledge.  Right  concentration  carries  these  to  the  high- 
est pitch  of  perfection,  and  the  result  is  a  penetrating  insight 
which  may  be  regarded  as  the  goal  of  all  effort.  Its  nature  is 
not  conceptual  but  perceptual.  The  Arhat  sees  the  cosmos  as 
it  really  is,  thus  passing  above  all  theories  and  ideas. 

I  shall  now  attempt  to  explain  the  stages  that  still  remain, 
but  I  shall  be  compelled  to  enter  upon  a  short  critical  digression 
in  order  to  make  clear  the  nature  of  the  Four  Jhanas.  The 
word  Jliana  occurs  continually  in  Pali  literature,  and  is  vari- 


434  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

ously  translated  "  meditation,"  "  trance,"  "  rapture,"  and 
"  high  ecstasy,"  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  pre-Buddhistic 
in  its  origin,  and  was  incorporated  in  this  system  by  the  Master 
by  an  act  of  courtesy,  which  is  historically  recorded. 

The  passage  which  I  shall  now  quote  is,  I  think,  the  source 
for  all  the  references  to  the  "  Four  Jhanas  "  in  the  Buddhist 
writings. 

74.  But  when  Lust,  Anger,  Laxness,  Restless  Brooding  and  Doubt 
have  been  put  away  within  him,  he  looks  upon  himself  as  freed  from 
debt,  rid  of  disease,  out  of  jail,  a  free  man  and  secure. 

75.  And  gladness  springs  up  within  him  on  his  realising  that,  and 
joy  arises  to  him  thus  gladdened,  and  so  rejoicing  all  his  frame  be- 
comes at  ease,  and  being  thus  at  ease,  he  is  filled  with  a  sense  of 
peace,  and  in  that  peace  his  heart  is  stayed. 

75A.  Then  estranged  from  lusts,  aloof  from  evil  dispositions,  he 
enters  into  and  remains  in  the  first  Jhana  (Rapture) — a  state  of 
joy  and  ease  born  of  detachment,^^  reasoning  and  investigation  going 
on  the  while.  His  very  body  does  he  so  pervade,  drench,  permeate, 
and  suffuse  with  the  joy  and  ease  born  of  detachment  that  there  isi  no 
spot  in  his  whole  frame  not  suffused  therewith.  .  .  . 

"jy.  Then,  further,  the  Bhikkhu  suppressing  all  reasoning  and  inves- 
tigation enters  into  and  abides  in  the  second  Jhana,  a  state  of  joy 
and  ease,  born  of  serenity  of  concentration,  when  no  reasoning  or 
investigation  goes  on  —  a  state  of  elevation  of  mind,  a  tranquillisa- 
tion  of  the  heart  within.  .  .  . 

79.  Then,  further,  the  Bhikkhu,  holding  aloof  from  joy,  becomes 
equable  (iipekhako)  and  mindful  and  self-possessed;  he  experiences 
in  his  body  that  ease  which  they  talk  of  when  they  say :  "  The  man 
serene  and  self-possessed  is  well  at  ease,"  and  so  enters  and  abides 
in  the  third  Jhana. 

81.  Then,  further,  the  Bhikkhu,  by  the  putting  away  alike  of  ease 
and  pain,  by  the  passing  away  alike  of  any  elation  or  dejection  he  had 
previously  felt,  enters  into  and  abides  in  the  fourth  jhana,  a  state 
of  pure  self-possession  and  equanimity  without  pain  and  without 
ease.  And  he  sitsi  there  so  diffusing  even  his  body  with  that  ease 
of  purification,  of  translucence  of  heart,  that  there  is  no  spot  in  his 
whole  frame  not  suffused  therewith.^® 

We  must  not  think  that  these  high  states  realised  by  the 
meditator  are  for  himself  alone.  It  is  quite  true  that  Buddhism 
lays  emphasis  on  gaining  welfare  for  oneself,  but  this  is  for 
very  profound  reasons  connected  with  the  law  of  Karma  and 
"  dependent  origination."  The  more  an  aspirant  realises  hap- 
piness in  himself  the  more  compassion  will  he  feel  for  those 
who  are  still  in  pain.     It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  in 

15  Vk'eka,  physically  =  seclusion;  intellectually  =  from  the  objects  of  thought;  ethi- 
cally =  of  the   heart. 

16  Brahma-jaia  Sutta,  74-81. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  435 

many  of  the  meditation-texts  we  find  that  the  disciple  is  de- 
scribed as  coming  out  of  the  four  Jhanas,  rich,  pure  and  ener- 
getic, turning  with  positive  effort  to  share  his  weaUh  with 
others. 

His  heart  overflowing  with  Lovingkindness,  with  Compassion, 
with  Sympathetic  Glachiess,  and  with  Evenmindedness,  he  abides, 
raying  them  forth  towards  one  quarter  of  space,  then  towards  the 
second,  then  towards  tlic  third,  then  towards  the  fourth,  and  above 
and  below ;  thus  all  around.  Everywhere  into  all  places  the  wide 
world  over,  his  heart  overflowing  streams  forth  ample,  expanded, 
limitless,  free  from  enmity,  free  from  all  ill-will. ^^ 

Just  as  a  mighty  trumpeter  makes  himself  heard  —  and  that  with- 
out difficulty  —  in  all  the  four  directions,  even  so  of  all  things  that 
have  shape  or  life  there  is  not  one  that  he  passes  by  or  leaves  aside, 
but  regards  them   all   with   minds   set  free  and   deep-felt   love !  ^^ 

This  picture  of  a  trumpet-blast  of  universal  love  is  truly 
magnificent,  and  in  view  of  the  probable  organic  unity  of  all 
life  we  may  easily  believe  that  its  tones  are  heard  "  without 
difficulty."     But  the  trumpeters  are  few! 

Right  concentration  includes  other  exercises  which  it  is 
impossible  to  describe  without  considerable  metaphysical  dis- 
cussion; it  is  right,  however,  that  I  should  remark  that  the 
mystical  phase  of  Buddhist  meditation  begins  here  when  the 
Arhat  explores  one  after  another  the  Infinite  Reahns.  I  cling 
to  the  thought  that  these  highest  flights  are  rendered  possible 
only  after  the  attainment  of  Universal  Love;  the  trumpet-blast 
prepares  the  way. 

D.  The  Fruits  of  Meditation 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  follow  the  development  of  meditative 
practice  as  it  is  described  in  Mahayana  literature  or  in  the 
numerous  philosophical  cominentaries  produced  by  the  later 
Buddhists,  but  I  think  it  will  l3e  useful  to  picture,  if  we  can, 
the  probable  results  accruing  to  a  social  life,  such  as  that  of 
ancient  India,  from  the  practice  of  meditation.  Now  I  am 
going  to  quote  the  words  of  the  Emperor  Asoka,  cut  and  still 
to  be  seen  in  the  rocks  of  Peshawar.  They  are  more  eloquent 
than  any  words  of  mine,  and  I  let  them  speak  alone;  they  are 
the  words  of  one  who  was  once  a  great  military  conqueror, 
but  who,  on  repenting  of  the  suffering  he  had  caused,  "  went 
out  to  beat  the  drum  of  the  Dhamma." 

17  Majjhima   Nikaya,   VII. 

18  Tevijja-Suttaj  Digha-Nikdya.  , 


436  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

8.  Whatsoever  meritorious  deeds  I  have  done,  those  deeds  the 
people  have  conformed  to  and  will  imitate,  whence  the  result  follows 
that  they  have  grown  and  will  grow  in  the  virtues.  .  .  . 

II.  Among  men  wherever  the  aforesaid  growth  of  piety  has  de- 
veloped, it  has  been  effected  by  twofold  means,  to  wit,  from  regula- 
tions and  meditation.  Of  these  two  means,  however,  pious  regulations 
are  of  small  account,  whereas  meditation  is  superior. 

Nevertheless,  pious  regulations  have  been  issued  by  me  to  the 
effect  that  such  and  such  species  are  exempt  from  slaughter,  and 
there  are  many  other  pious  regulations  which  I  have  issued.  But 
the  superior  effect  of  meditation  is  seen  in  the  growth  of  piety  among 
men  and  the  more  complete  abstention  from  the  killing  of  animate 
bemgs  and  from  the  sacrifice  of  living  creatures.^^ 

III.  The  Teaching  of  Christ 

i.  The  Lord's  Prayer 

The  specific  doctrine  of  prayer  delivered  by  Christ  is  con- 
tained in  passages  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Matt.  vi. 
5-15,  and  in  Luke  xi.  The  latter  is  to  be  preferred,  because 
it  preserves  the  continuity  of  the  discourse,  and  thus  elucidates 
its  true  meaning.     I  give  a  literal  translation : 

Father, 

Hallowed  be  Thy  name, 

Thy  kingdom  come  [that  is,  the  kingdom  of  heaven]. 
Give  us  each  day  our  supersubstantial  bread. 

And  forgive  us  our  sins,  for  we  ourselves  forgive  everyone  who 
wrongs  us; 
And  take  up  not  into  trial. 2° 

The  terms  of  the  prayer  having  been  given  in  the  briefest 
manner,  an  explanation  or  justification  of  it  immediately  fol- 
lows ;  and  this,  it  w^ill  be  noted,  is  offered  only  in  regard  to  the 
petition  for  "  supersubstantial  bread."  What  this  bread  is  we 
shall  soon  learn.     The  argument  proceeds  as  follows : 

Suppose  that  one  of  you  who  has  a  friend  were  to  go  to  him  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  and  say,  "  Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves,  .  .  ." 
and  suppose  that  the  other  man  should  answer  from  inside,  "  Do 
not  trouble  me  ...  I  cannot  get  up  and  give  you  anything  " ;  I  tell 
you  that,  even  though  he  will  not  get  up  and  give  him  anything 
because  he  is  a  friend,  yet  because  of  his  persistence  he  will  rousie 
himself  and  give  him  what  he  wants. ^^ 


&' 


Bearing  in  mind  the  symbolic  character  of  the  foregoing 
passage,  and  perceiving  the  moral  that  is  to  be  deduced  from 
it,  we  proceed  with  our  extracts : 


19  Asoka's  Pillar,   Edict  vii.  2i  Luke  xi.    5-8. 

20  Luke  xi.  2-4. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  437 

And  so  I  say  to  you :  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  granted ;  search,  and 
you  shall  find ;  knock,  and  the  door  shall  be  opened  to  you.  For  he 
that  asks  receives,  he  that  searches  finds,  and  to  him  that  knocks  the 
door  shall  be  opened. ^- 

It  oug^ht  not  to  be  necessary  to  point  out  that  prayer  is  not 
specifically  "  asking "  any  more  than  it  is  "  seeking "  or 
"  knocking."  These  three  words  are  merely  alternative  sym- 
bols of  the  true  quest  of  prayer.  The  whole  argument  is 
brought  to  an  end  by  the  trenchant  appeal  to  His  hearers  to 
expect  from  the  Spiritual  Father  of  what  He  has  to  give  at 
least  as  much  as  from  the  grudging  friend  or  earthly  father. 

But  what  kind  of  food  has  the  Spiritual  Father  to  give  to 
those  who  pray? 

What  father  amonjj  you,  if  his  son  asks  him  for  a  fish,  will  give 
him  a  snake  instead,  or,  if  he  asks  for  an  egg,  will  give  him  a  scor- 
pion? If  you,  then,  naturally  wicked  though  you  are,  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  to  your  children,  how  much  more  will  the  Father, 
from  out  of  heaven,  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  those  that  ask  him?" 

ii.   The  Bread  of  Heaven 

The  symbolism  is  simple  and  precise :  the  earthly  father  rep- 
resents the  Heavenly  Father;  the  earthly  bread  the  heavenly 
bread ;  asking  for  food  of  our  parents  daily  represents  daily 
and  constant  prayer.  We  have  also  the  crucial  identification 
of  the  "  supersubstantial  bread  "  with  "  Holy  Spirit,"  which, 
though  not  a  final  definition,  carries  us  nearer  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  true  object  of  prayer. 

It  is  desirable  to  state  what  critical  justification  there  may 
be  for  the  unusual  reading  of  the  petition  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  which  I  have  used  above.  I  will  therefore  deal  briefly 
with  a  subject  that  has  afforded  a  great  deal  of  learned  dis- 
cussion.    The  original  texts  are  as  follows  (Eberhard  Nestle)  : 

Matt.   VI.    11:      Tov  apTOv  rjfiuiv  Tov  CTrioi'tnoi'  So<?  fjfuv  cnjfxepov. 
Luke  xi.  3  :      Tov  aprov  rj/xwv  tov  iz-iovcnov  SlSov  rffiiv  to  KaO'  rj/jiipav. 

We  must  remember  that  the  discourses  of  Christ  were  almost 
certainly  delivered  in  Aramaic  dialect,  in  which  a  word  cor- 
responding to  the  epiousios  of  the  Greek  would  have  to  be 
used.  What  that  word  was  we  do  not  know ;  its  Greek 
equivalent  occurs  twice  in  the  passage  quoted  and  nowhere 
else  in  the  Gospels,  though  the  Syriac  version  of  the  passages 
uses    a    word    which    is    translated   by    "  constant,    continual 

22  Luke  xi.  9,  10.  28  Luke  xi.  11-13. 


438  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

bread."  This  is  very  significant,  and  is  open  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  not  being  material  bread.  Origen  {De  Orat.  xvi.) 
affirms  that  the  term  epiousios  was  coined  by  the  Evangelists, 
and  Jerome,  who  translated  the  Greek  Testament  into  Latin, 
rendered  Matthew  vi.  2  by  supersiibstantialis,  and  Luke 
xi.  3  by  quotidianus.  This  latter  term,  like  the  Syriac, 
does  not  compel  us  to  think  of  material  substance.  He  evi- 
dently did  not  notice  that  the  identification  of  "  the  Holy 
Spirit "  with  epiousios  (as  I  have  shown  above,  Luke  xi. 
11-13)  logically  demands  the  word  supersubstantialis,  and  it 
is  singular  that  he  used  that  word  for  the  passage  in  Matthew 
in  which  it  is  not  so  forcibly  needed. 

iii.  Later  Mystical  Ideas 

This  tradition  of  a  bread  that  was  beyond  substance,  a 
mystic  manna,  was  carried  for  many  centuries  through  the 
Christian  Church,  chiefly  by  the  mystics ;  and  I  have  no  per- 
sonal doubt  that  it  is  the  true  one.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
logical  results  of  such  an  interpretation  of  this  crucial  passage, 
I  quote  from  an  Italian  Jesuit  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
Father  Paul  Segneri,  who  says: 

Panem  nostrum  superstibstantialeni  da  nobis  hodie  (Matt.  vi.  11) 
"  Give  us  this  day  our  supersubstantial  bread."  It  has  seemed  to 
me  that  by  this  bread  may  fitly  be  understood  that  heavenly  consola- 
tion which  is  received  from  God  in  prayer.  It  is  called  bread  because 
it  is  universal  food  loved  by  every  soul,  w^ithout  which  the  spirit  be- 
comes weak,  and,  as  it  were,  lean,  and  with  which  it  gains  incredible 
vigour  to  walk  as  Elijah  did,  through  deserts,  to  the  summit  of 
Horeb,  that  is  perfection.  It  is  called  ours  because  it  is  prepared 
for  us,  and  is  for  our  comfort  more  than  for  the  Divine  glory;  since 
it  is  to  be  partaken  of  secretly,  unknown  to  others,  and  is  to  be 
received  in  our  private  chamber.  It  is  called  supersubstantial,  be- 
cause as  ordinary  bread  is  the  food  of  the  inferior  substance,  that  is, 
the  body,  so  this  is  the  food  of  the  superior  substance,  the  soul :  also 
because  it  not  only  affords  comfort  but  gives  great  strength  to  over- 
come difficulties  and  conquer  temptations.  ...  As  St.  Bernard  says 
is  the  case  with  husbandmen,  who  not  only  receive  pay  when  the 
harvest  is  ended,  but  are  also  supplied  with  food  whilst  reaping  it, 
that  they  may  work  with  greater  alacrity.  Lastly,  we  say  this  day, 
because  it  must  be  daily  food,  as  bread  is.^* 

Christian  prayer  was  therefore  the  science  of  receiving  the 
Divine  Pneuma,  which  would  transform  life;  it  is  "the  strait 
gate"  of  concentration;  it  is  the  quest  of  the  mystic  manna. 
And  what  has  been  said  of  the  "  heavenly  bread  "  is  equally 

24  Thoughts  during  Prayer,  1660, 


RULES  AND  METHODS  439 

true  of  the  "  water  of  life  "  which  is  promised  to  burst  from 
an  internal  spiritual  spring,  cleansing  and  satisfying  the  life  of 
man.  The  same  is  the  "gift  of  God  " — the  one  blessed  ex- 
perience spoken  of  under  a  variety  of  symbols. 

IV.  Monastic  and  Contemplative  Prayer 

Prayer  as  used  by  the  Apostolic  writers  and  early  Christian 
Fathers  seems  to  have  conformed  more  to  the  Jewish  type  — 
in  that  it  was  largely  petitionary  —  than  to  the  example  and 
teaching  set  by  Christ.  I  have  in  the  present  section,  there- 
fore, taken  up  the  thread  of  my  exposition  at  a  point  at  which 
Christian  prayer  resumes  the  character  which  was  given  to  it 
by  Jesus  in  His  closing  words :     "  Watch  ye,  therefore,  and 

pray "   that   is  to   say,    in   the  early   monastic   systems. 

It  will  be  observed  also  how  largely,  both  in  language  and 
idea,  ascetic  prayer  is  like  unto  the  contemplative  systems 
of  the  Neo-Platonists. 

i.  Monasticism 

In  stating  the  doctrines  of  early  monastic  prayer  we  do  not 
need  to  bridge  over  the  apparent  hiatus  betwixt  the  Patristic 
Christianity  and  that  extreme  asceticism  found  in  the  Egyptian 
deserts  during  the  third,  fourth,  and  following  centuries.  The 
striking  differences  in  the  two  periods  are  due  in  the  main  to 
altered  conditions  under  which  the  Egyptian  ascetics  lived; 
and  as  those  conditions  contribute  largely  towards  their  con- 
cept of  life  and  consequently  their  method  of  prayer,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  origin  and  progress 
of  monasticism. 

In  the  year  250  a.d.  the  cruel  persecutions  under  Decius 
caused  the  Christians  of  Egypt  to  fly  to  the  deserts  and  lonely 
places  at  some  distance  from  the  towns  and  villages.  Doubt- 
less they  saw  in  these  events  the  work  of  the  Antichrist,  and 
prepared  themselves  for  the  reward  of  heaven  by  a  life  of 
self-denial  and  prayer.  A  solitary  man  dwelling  thus  was 
called  monachos,  and  his  hut  or  cave  a  monasterion.  When, 
for  purposes  of  safety  or  communion,  these  monks  chose  to 
live  in  associated  groups,  the  cenobium  was  thereby  established. 

St.  Anthony  became  a  monk  in  a.d.  270,  and  after  thirty- 
five  years  he  emerged  from  his  cave  and  founded  a  monastery 
with  his  disciples  near  the  Red  Sea.  Egypt  was  soon  colonised 
by  monasteries   on   the   pattern   of   Anthony's;   Mar   Awgin 


440  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

settled  near  Suez,  Arnoun  and  Evagrius  in  Nitria  and  Pales- 
tine. Visits  from  the  Grecian  Fathers  to  Anthony's  establish- 
ment led  to  further  monasteries  in  Palestine  under  Hilarion 
and  Epiphanius;  in  Pontus  by  Basil,  in  Armenia  by  Narses. 
In  325  Mar  Awgin  invaded  Mesopotamia  with  the  monastic 
idea,  and  founded  the  great  monastery  at  Mount  Izla  near 
Nisibus,  which,  in  its  turn,  sent  out  many  offshoots  for  the 
Nestorian  Church  in  that  region. 

In  340  Athanasius,  having  visited  Egypt,  was  propagating 
monachism  in  Rome  itself,  and  in  372  Martin  at  Tours  and 
Ambrose  at  Milan  founded  cenobitic  establishments.  Ten 
years  later  Babylonia  and  Arabia  were  permeated  by  valiant 
monks,  and  early  in  the  fifth  century  Wales  and  Ireland  had 
come  within  the  sphere  of  influence  of  this  extraordinary  move- 
ment. By  A.D.  500  monachism  was  firmly  rooted  throughout 
the  then  civilised  world.  It  is  needless  to  remark  that  medita- 
tion and  prayer  were  developed  to  a  very  high  degree  in  these 
establishments,  and  I  shall  have  occasion  to  bring  forward 
authentic  documents  which  are  so  clear  that  little  exposition  will 
be  needed.  On  behalf  of  Egyptian  monachism  I  shall  quote 
from  The  Paradise  of  Palladius,  Bishop  of  Helenopolis,  who 
composed  his  great  history  about  a.d.  419.  This  work  inspired 
Thomas  Bishop  of  Marga  to  do,  in  a.d.  840,  for  Mesopotamian 
Christianity  what  Palladius  had  done  for  the  Egyptian  monks, 
and  we  have  from  his  pen  the  admirable  Historia  Monastica, 
from  which  I  shall  also  quote.  Further  information  of  an  ex- 
haustive character  is  also  to  be  found  in  Cassian's  Institutes 
and  Conferences,  a.d.  420. 

ii.  General  Character  of  Ascetic  Practice 

The  monk's  religion  was  an  intensely  personal  affair;  the 
salvation  of  his  soul  was  a  duty  he  owed  to  himself  and  his 
God ;  and  silent  meditation,  contemplation,  and  prayer  were  his 
chief  instruments  of  attainment.  The  quotations  which  follow 
will  reveal  the  extraordinary  character  of  this  early  monastic 
movement,  and  will,  I  hope,  demonstrate  the  intense  sincerity 
and  genuineness  of  the  ascetic  life.  It  is  not  necessary  to  give 
here  any  personal  views  as  to  the  ultimate  utility  of  such 
practice ;  the  monks  will  speak  for  themselves. 

A  summary  of  the  Paradise  is  given  in  its  second  volume, 
called  "  Questions  and  Answers  " ;  really  the  whole  of  the 
topics  are  involved  with  the  practice  of  prayer,  which  was  the 


RULES  AND  METHODS  441 

instrument   by  which   the   monk  sought   to   achieve  what   he 
called  his  "  triumph."     Arsenius  is  thus  reported : 

Flee,  keep  silence,  and  lead  a  life  of  silent  contemplation,  for  these 
are  the  roots  which  prevent  a  man's  committing  sin.^'* 

The  Egyptian  and  Nestorian  monks  were  dualists  absolutely. 
They  regarded  themselves  as  the  battleground  of  devils;  day 
and  night  Satan  and  his  emissaries  were  attacking  the  praying 
brother.  Sleep  was  dangerous  on  that  account,  and  a  wander- 
ing mind  was  a  vulnerable  point  in  the  ascetic's  spiritual 
armour.  The  purpose  of  prayer  was  primarily  to  keep  the 
devils  away  —  devils  who  came  in  the  guise  of  thoughts  and 
desires.  The  warfare  and  the  triumph  may  now  be  described 
in  the  words  of  Palladius  himself. 

555  Q.  In  what  manner  ouqht  a  monk  to  dwell  in  silent  contempla- 

tion in  his  cell? 
A.  He  should  have  no  remembrance  of  man  whatsoever  whilst 
he  is  dwelling  in  his  cell. 

556  Q.  What  kind  of  labour  should  the  heart  perform? 

A,  The  perfect  labour  of  monks  is  for  a  man  to  have  his  gaze 
directed  towards  God  firmly  and  continually. 

557  Q-  Tri  what  way  should  the  mind  persecute  abominable  thoughts? 
A.  The  mind  is  unable  to  do  this  of  itself;  nevertheless,  when- 
ever a  thought  of  evil  cometh  against  the  soul,  it  is 
required  of  it  immediately  to  flee  from  the  performance 
thereof,  and  to  take  refuge  in  supplication  to  God,  and 
that  shall  dissolve  before  the  fire,  for  our  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire. 

The  psychology  here  is  simple ;  the  mind  is  unable  to  prevent 
evil  thoughts  coming,  but  the  soul  should  fly  to  God  and  thus 
fill  the  mind  with  thoughts  of  Him  which  will  replace  the  evil 
thoughts.  This  system  of  warfare  does  not  seem  to  be  a  direct 
frontal  attack  on  the  enemy,  but  an  escape  to  a  higher  sphere 
where  he  is  unable  to  penetrate.  A  brother  asks  :  "  With  what 
intent  should  the  mind  flee  towards  God?  "  And  the  answer 
is  given  thus : 

560  A.  If  the  thought  of  impurity  rush  upon  thee,  seize  thy  mind  and 
carry  it  to  God  immediately,  and  raise  it  upwards  with 
strenuousness,  and  delay  not,  for  to  delay  is  to  be  on 
the  limit  of  being  brought  low. 

iii.   Visions  of  God 

It  cannot  be  doubted  for  a  moment  that  these  monks  were 
in  many  cases  natural   mystics,   or  capable  of   attaining  to 

25  Paradise,  ch.  i. 


442  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

mystic  consciousness  by  culture  of  meditation.  Whether  the 
ascetic  practices,  by  depressing  the  brain  consciousness,  Hber- 
ated  the  mind  in  other  directions,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  It 
would  seem  that  some  men  were  trained  from  childhood  to 
contemplative  practice,  the  exact  details  of  which  are  lost  to 
us;  while  others  were  spontaneous  mystics,  who  received  ac- 
cession of  consciousness  in  the  course  of  an  ordinary  pious 
life. 

If  it  be  asked  how  the  monks  maintained  such  strenuous 
concentration  on  the  subject-matter  of  prayer,  we  are  informed 
of  several  means  adapted  to  ensure  that  end.  One  of  their 
methods  of  prayer  was  to  sing  the  psalms  in  order  to  prevent 
mere  lip-repetition  and  wandering  of  the  mind. 

.  .  .  They  took  care  to  collect  the  mind  from  wandering,  and 
to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  Psalms,  and  they  took  care  never 
to  let  one  word  escape  them  without  their  knowing  the  meaning 
thereof  .  .  .  spiritually  .  .  .  that  is  to  say,  they  applied  all  the 
Psalms  to  their  own  lives  and  works  and  to  their  passions,  and  to 
their  spiritual  life.^^ 

iv.  Cassian's  Writings 

Many  ascetics  seem  to  display  a  strong  suspicion  of  sleep, 
and  in  the  Institutes  and  Conferences  of  John  Cassian  of  Mar- 
seilles (a.d.  420),  written  as  the  result  of  a  prolonged  visit  to 
the  desert  fathers,  we  have  certain  details  as  to  the  reason  of 
this  view  and  the  means  taken  to  fight  against  danger.  I  shall 
now  quote  a  few  passages  from  this  voluminous  work : 

The  reasons  why  they  are  not  allowed  to  go  to  sleep  after  the  night's 
service.  .  .  .  First,  lest  our  envious  adversary,  jealous  of  our  purity 
against  which  he  is  always  plotting,  and  ceaselessly  hostile  to  us, 
should  by  some  illusion  in  a  dream  pollute  the  purity  which  has  been 
gained  by  the  Psalms  and  Prayers  of  the  night  .  .  .  and  if  he  find  some 
time  given  to  repose,  defile  us.  Secondly,  because  even  if  no  such 
dreaded  illusion  of  the  devil  arises,  even  a  true  sleep  in  the  interval 
produces  laziness.  .  .  .  Wherefore  to  the  canonical  vigils  there  are 
added  these  private  watchings,  and  they  submit  to  them  with  great 
care,  both  in  order  that  the  purity  which  has  been  gained  by  Psalms 
and  Prayers  may  not  be  lost,  and  also  that  a  more  intense  carefulness 
to  guard  us  diligently  through  the  day  may  be  secured  beforehand  by 
the  meditation  of  the  night.^'^ 

In  a  series  of  interesting  conferences  with  various  abbots, 
Cassian  discusses  the  problems  of  the  religious  life  very  care- 
fully, and  I  now  propose  to  quote  a  few  such  passages  as 

26  Paradise,  Appendix,  par.  35.  ?7  Institutes,  Book  II,  Ch.  xiij, 


RULES  AND  METHODS  443 

relate  to  prayer  and  meditation.     Moses,  the  Libyan,  abbot  of 
a  monastery  in  the  Desert  of  Scete,  says : 

The  first  thing  in  all  the  arts  and  sciences  is  to  have  some  goal, 
i.e.  a  mark  for  the  mind  and  constant  mental  purpose,  for  unless  a 
man  keeps  this  before  him  with  all  diligence  and  persistence,  he  will 
never  succeed  in  arriving  at  the  ultimate  aim  and  the  gain  which  he 
desires.  .  .  .  The  end  of  our  profession  indeed  is,  as  I  have  said, 
the  Kingdom  of  God  or  the  Kingdom  of  fleaven,  but  the  immediate 
aim  is  purity  of  heart,  without  which  no  one  can  gain  that  end; 
fixing  our  gaze  then  steadily  on  this  goal  as  if  on  a  definite  mark, 
let  us  direct  our  course  as  straight  as  possible,  and  if  our  thoughts 
wander  somewhat  from  this,  let  us  revert  to  our  gaze  upon  it,  and 
check  them  accurately  as  by  a  sure  standard  which  will  always  bring 
back  our  efforts  to  this  one  mark,  and  will  show  at  once  if  our  mind 
has  wandered  ever  so  little  from  the  direction  marked  out  for  it.^s 

Everything  should  be  done  and  sought  after  by  us  for  the  sake 
of  a  perfect  and  a  clean  heart,  free  from  all  disturbances.  For  this 
we  must  seek  solitude,  for  this  we  know  that  we  ought  to  submit 
to  fastings,  vigils,  toils,  bodily  nakedness,  reading  and  all  other 
virtues,  that  through  them  we  may  be  enabled  to  prepare  our  heart 
and  keep  it  unharmed  by  all  evil  passions.  .  .  .  Whatever  can  disturb 
that  purity  and  peace  of  mind  —  even  though  it  may  seem  useful  — 
should  be  shunned  as  really  hurtful,  for  by  this  rule  we  shall  succeed 
in  escaping  harm  from  mistakes  and  vagaries  and  make  straight  for 
the  desired  end  and  reach  it.^^ 

There  is  question  and  answer  on  admitting  and  rejecting 
thotisrhts : 


't>' 


Germanus  asks:  "How  is  it  then  that,  even  against  our  will,  idle 
thoughts  steal  upon  us  so  subtilly  and  secretly  that  it  is  fearfully  hard 
not  merely  to  drive  them  away  but  even  to  grasp  and  seize  them? 
Can  then  a  mind  sometimes  be  found  free  from  them  and  never 
attacked  by  illusions  of  this  kind?  "  ^° 

Moses  answers :  "  It  is  impossible  for  the  mind  not  to  be  approached 
by  thoughts,  but  it  is  in  the  power  of  every  earnest  man  either  to 
admit  them  or  to  reject  them.  As  then  their  rising  up  does  not  en- 
tirely depend  on  ourselves,  so  the  rejection  or  admission  of  them  lies 
in  our  power.  .  .  .  For  this  purpose  frequent  reading  and  continual 
meditation  is  employed  that  from  thence  an  opportunity  may  be  pro- 
vided and  earnest  vigils  and  fasts  and  prayers  .  .  .  for  if  these 
things  are  dropped  the  mind  is  sure  to  incline  in  a  carnal  direction 
and  fall  away."  ^^ 

In  the  conference  with  Abbot  Serenus  "  On  the  inconsis- 
tency of  the  mind  "  there  is  much  that  is  excellent,  but  little 
detail  of  actual  processes;  it  contains  chapters  "  On  the  fickle 

28  Cassian's  Conferences,  I.  vii.  80  Ibid.  I.  xvi. 

29  Ibid.  I.  vii,  SI  Cassian's  Conferences,  Ch.  xvii. 


444  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

character  of  our  thoughts  " ;  "Of  perseverance  as  regards  the 
care  of  thoughts  " ;  "  On  the  roving  tendency  of  the  mind  " ; 
and  might  profitably  be  compared  with  Yoga  and  Buddhist  doc- 
uments whose  aim  is  similar,  but  whose  style  so  different. 

The  first  conference  with  Abbot  Isaac  is  on  Prayer.  I  ap- 
pend some  passages  from  Cassian's  record  of  it : 

The  aim  of  every  monk  and  the  perfection  of  his  heart  tends  to 
continual  and  unbroken  perseverance  in  prayer,  and  strives  to  acquire 
an  immovable  tranquillity  of  mind  and  a  perpetual  purity.^^ 

And  therefore  in  order  that  prayer  may  be  offered  up  with  that 
earnestness  and  purity  with  which  it  ought  to  be,  we  must  by  all 
means  observe  these  rules.  First,  all  anxiety  about  carnal  things 
must  be  entirely  got  rid  of;  next,  we  must  leave  no  room  for,  not 
merely  the  care  but  even  the  recollection  of  any  business  affairs,  and 
must  also  lay  aside  all  backbitings,  vain  and  incessant  chattering,  and 
buffoonery ;  anger  above  all,  and  disturbing  moroseness  must  be  en- 
tirely destroyed,  and  the  deadly  taint  of  carnal  lust  and  covetousness 
be  torn  up  by  the  roots.  .  .  .  We  should  therefore  prepare  ourselves 
before  prayer.  .  .  .  And  therefore  if  we  do  not  want  anything  to 
haunt  us  while  we  are  praying,  we  should  be  careful  before  our 
prayer  to  exclude  it  from  the  shrine  of  our  heart.'' 

In  this  conference  with  Cassian  this  ascetic  authority  speaks 
of  "  our  supersubstantial  bread  "  and  follows  with  a  discourse 
on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  he  describes  as  but  preparatory  to 
a  "  sublimer  prayer  "  of  interior  silence. 

This  prayer  (the  Lord's  Prayer),  then,  though  it  seems  to  contain 
all  the  fulness  of  perfection,  yet  lifts  those  to  whom  it  belongs  to 
that  still  higher  condition,  and  carries  them  on  by  a  loftier  stage  to 
that  ardent  prayer  which  is  known  and  tried  but  by  very  few,  which 
transcends  all  human  thoughts,  and  which  is  distinguished  by  no 
movement  of  the  tongue,  or  utterance  of  words,  but  which  the  mind, 
enlightened  by  the  infusion  of  heavenly  light,  describes  in  no  human 
and  confined  language,  and  ineffably  utters  to  God  such  great  things 
.  .  .  not  easily  uttered  or  related.'* 

In  his  second  conference,  in  conformity  with  earlier  state- 
ments, Abbot  Isaac  shows  that  the  object  of  prayer  is  entirely 
spiritual  and  that  by  it  the  devotee  obtains  a  foretaste  of 
celestial  life.     He  says  : 

This,  then,  ought  to  be  the  destination  of  the  solitary,  this  should 
be  all  his  aim,  that  it  may  be  vouchsafed  to  him  to  possess  even  in 
the  body  an  image  of  future  bliss,  and  that  he  may  begin  even  in  this 
world  to  have  a  foretaste  of  that  celestial  life  of  glory.  This,  I  say, 
is  the  end  of  all  perfection,  that  the  mind,  purged  from  all  carnal 

32  Jhid.  Ch.  ii.  34  Cassian's  Conferences,  Ch.  tcxv, 

SSlbid.  Ch.  iii. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  445 

desires,  may  daily  be  lifted  towards  spiritual  things,  until  the  whole 
life  and  all  thoughts  of  the  heart  become  one  continuous  prayer.^" 

Chapter  viii  contains  teaching  on  the  training  in  perfection 
by  which  we  can  arrive  at  "  a  perpetual  recollection  of  God." 
I  do  not  remember  having  met  with  this  formula  in  any  litera- 
ture of  an  earlier  date.  The  passage  also  is  reminiscent  of 
Platonic  contemplation. 

Of  the  method  of  continual  prayer  —  Wherefore  in  accordance  with 
that  system  .  .  .  we  must  give  you  also  the  form  of  this  spiritual  con- 
templation on  which  you  may  always  fix  your  gaze  with  the  utmost 
steadiness  .  .  .  and  manage  by  the  practice  of  it  and  by  meditation  to 
climb  to  a  still  loftier  height.  .  .  .  And  so  for  keeping  up  continual 
recollection  of  God  this  pious  formula  is  to  be  ever  set  before  you: 

0  God,  make  speed  to  save  me :  O  Lord,  make  haste  to  help  me !  *° 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  is  not  merely  an  ejaculatory  petition, 
uttered  to  God,  but  part  of  a  system  of  subjective  training. 

V.  Solitude  and  Silence 

The  theory  of  the  ascetic  life,  showing  the  place  of  prayer, 
is  beautifully  set  forth  in  the  life  of  Rabban  Cyprian: 

Now  the  labours  and  habits  of  life  which  are  wrought  by  holy 
men  and  which  have  repentance  as  their  aim,  namely:  fasting,  watch- 
ing, bowing  of  the  whole  body  and  head  to  the  ground,  and  prayers 
themselves,  are  the  primary  matters  and  materials  for  the  ascetic  life; 
and  services  of  Psalms,  self-denial,  tears,  contrition,  readings  of  the 
scriptures,  patience,  seriousness,  chastity,  voluntary  poverty,  silence, 
meditation  on  Divine  matters,  the  despising  of  self,  the  fleeing  away 
from  men,  the  struggling,  and  the  sitting  apart  quietly  in  the  cell : 
these  are  all  the  various  things  which  purify  the  understanding  which 
loveth  peace. ^^ 

The  canons  which  were  laid  down  by  Mar  Abraham  the 
Great,  the  head  of  the  ascetics  in  all  Persia,  show  that  quietness 
is  preserved  by  two  causes,  viz. :  constant  reading  and  prayer, 
or  by  the  labour  of  the  hands  and  meditation. 

Absolute  peace  and  quietness  were  necessary  for  a  monk, 
for  "  once  when  Abba  Arsenius  went  to  visit  the  brethren  in 
a  certain  place  the  wind  whistled  through  the  reeds  which  grew 
there,  and  he  said,  '  What  is  this  noise?  '  And  they  said.  *  It  is 
the  reeds  shaken  by  the  wind.'     And  he  said  to  them  :   '  Verily 

1  say  unto  you,  if  a  man  dwelling  in  solitude  heareth  only  the 
chirp  of  a  sparrow,  his  heart  cannot  find  that  solitude  which  it 

35  Ibid.  Ch.  vii.  37  Historia  MonasHco,  Vi.  L 

36  Ibid.  Ch.  viii. 


446  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

requireth;  how  much  less  then  can  ye  who  have  all  this  noise 
of  these  reeds?  '  "  ^ 

vi.  Concentration,  Intuition,  and  Peace 

Special  attention  is  given  by  our  author  to  Mar  Elijah, 
Bishop  of  Mokan,  and  to  "  the  sublimest  kind  of  prayer  with 
which  he  enriched  his  soul."  Prayer  is  concentration,  and  pre- 
vents wandering  of  the  mind  and  vacillation  of  purpose. 

Wherefore  also  the  holy  Rabban  Mar  Elijah,  to  whose  noble  deeds 
we  bring  back  our  simple  narrative,  aiming  at  the  mark  of  the  holy 
fathers,  or  rather  having  already  entered  into  the  experience  of  its 
efficacy,  and  felt  through  it  all  the  hidden  treasures  which  are  hidden 
in  the  Books  of  the  Spirit,  knew  and  understood  that  without  it  a 
man  was  not  able  to  be  perfect  in  the  service  of  the  ascetic  life.  And 
he  yoked  himself  to  it  from  the  beginning  of  his  going  into  the  cell, 
and  he  joined  to  it  bodily  labours  and  the  concentration  of  the 
mind.  .  .  .  And  because  these  two  fierce  contentions  resist  the  man 
who  has  yoked  his  mind  to  the  concentration  which  is  in  prayer,  that 
is  to  say,  disturbed  wandering  of  the  mind  and  vacillating  perplexity, 
Elijah  was  armed  mightily,  for  he  listened  to  the  blessed  Evagrius, 
who  said :  "  If  thou  hast  overcome  the  wandering  of  the  mind,  the 
aim  of  all  aims,  thou  art  worthy  of  perfection."  ^^ 

The  theory  of  Contemplation,  or  of  seeing  the  Divine  "  face 
to  face,"  is  set  forth  in  a  chapter  dealing  with  the  history  of 
Mar  Narses,  Bishop  of  Shanna,  who  had  obtained  that  blessed 
faculty.  It  appears  to  be  the  Platonic  doctrine  of  gnosis  beau- 
tifully adapted  to  Christian  traditions;  the  following  is  the 
reference : 

Of  the  spiritual  contemplation  and  of  the  intellectual  pleasure  in 
the  three  kinds  of  spiritual  meditations. 

•  Certain  of  the  fathers  have  written  in  their  books  that  there 
existeth  in  the  heart  a  glorious  intellectual  mirror  which  the  Creator 
of  natures  formed  from  all  the  visible  and  spiritual  natures  which 
are  in  creation  for  the  great  honour  of  His  image,  and  as  a  means  for 
discovering  His  invisibility;  and  he  made  it  a  tie,  and  a  bond,  and  a 
completion  of  all  natures.  Now  the  fathers  call  it  the  "  beauty  of 
our  person,"  and  by  St.  Paul  it  is  called  the  "  house  of  love,"  and  by 
the  doctors  the  "  house  of  peace,"  and  by  the  wise  the  "  house  of 
goodness,"  and  by  others  the  "  house  of  joy,"  in  which  dwelleth  the 
spirit  of  adoption  which  we  have  received  from  holy  baptism,  and  upon 
it  shineth  the  light  of  grace. 

And  whosoever  hath  cleansed  this  mirror  of  beautiful  things  from 
the  imnurity  of  the  passions  and  from  sin,  and  hath  renewed  it  and 
established  it  in  the  orisfinal  condition  of  the  nature  of  its  creation, 
can   see  by  the  light  of  its  glorious  rays  all  spiritual  things   which 

38  Historia  Monastica,  V.  ix. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  447 

belongs  to  natures  and  to  things  of  creation  which  are  afar  off 
and  wliicli  are  near.  And  he  is  able  by  the  secret  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  look  into  them  closely  as  if  they  were  all  arranged  in  order, 
without  any  covering  whatever,  before  his  eyes.  And  when  the 
working  of  (iod  dawneth  upon  the  souls  of  holy  men,  there  dwellcth 
and  abideth  upon  it  this  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  He  bestoweth 
this  gift  upon  the  good,  and  maketh  them  to  possess  life  and  happiness 
for  ever.^" 


vii.  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux 

I  shall  not  follow  the  course  of  mystical  contemplative 
prayer  into  the  byways  of  heterodoxy  —  Scotus  Erif^ena  and 
his  school,  but  shall  now  deal  with  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
who,  from  his  opposition  to  Scholasticism,  may  be  regarded 
as  the  most  notable  type  of  devotional  mysticism  in  the  Middle 
Ages. 

It  may  be  well  to  indicate  the  scope  of  rriy  quotations  from 
De  Considcrationc  and  The  Sermons.  They  are  the  merest 
fraction  of  writings  on  the  whole  range  of  theology,  exegesis, 
church  government,  morality,  and  spiritual  experience;  but 
from  them  will  be  gleaned  sufficient  to  show  the  saint's  teach- 
ing on  prayer.  Prayer  is  part  of,  or  the  fruit  of,  what  he 
calls  "  Consideration."  Now,  Consideration  with  him  is  a 
sustained  inquiry  or  examination  into  a  subject;  the  subject 
may  be  a  mundane  matter,  or  an  ecclesiastical  matter,  a  ques- 
tion of  morality,  or  Biblical  interpretation.  It  may  be  oneself, 
one's  character,  heaven  or  the  Deity ;  and  the  higher  the  subject- 
matter,  the  nearer  does  the  method  of  examination  assume  the 
nature  of  prayer.  The  mental  process  is  therefore  somewhat 
as  follows : 

1.  Choice  of  subject-matter, 

e.g.,  material  affairs,  as  subservient  to  one's  welfare; 
or  one's  true  welfare; 
or  one's  self  or  salvation; 
or  God. 

2.  Consideration  of  the  subject-matter, 

i.e.,     examination     or     inquiry     conducted     by     observation 
and  ratiocination. 

3.  Meditation   point   by    point,    upon    each    aspect    of   the    subject- 

matter,  leading  to 

4.  Contemplation,  complete  understanding  or  vision  face  to  face. 

If  the  subject-matter  be  God  (as  in  the  case  of  prayer)  the 
"  considerer  "  is  carried  up  stage  by  stage  by  means  of  opinion, 

5P  Hisfofiq  Monastica,  V.  xv. 


448  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

faith,  and  understanding  until  he  attains  through  meditation 
and  contemplation,  to 

5.  Ecstasy,   or   Rapture.     This   is   the   final   and  blissful    fruit   of 
prayer,  not  tasted  by  many. 

The  passages  which   follow  will  now   sufficiently   explain 
themselves. 

What  "  consideration "  does  firstly  is  to  purify  the  very  source 
whence  it  arises,  I  mean  the  mind.  Then  it  governs  the  passions, 
directs  the  actions,  corrects  excesses,  regulates  the  morals,  establishes 
good  order  and  honesty  in  one's  life.  It  gives  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  things  human  and  Divine ;  brings  into  order  that  which  was 
scattered.  It  penetrates  into  the  most  hidden  things,  seeks  out  care- 
fully the  true,  examines  the  probable,  and  discovers  what  is  pretended 
or  disguised. 

Consideration  regulates  for  itself  the  things  which  it  should  do, 
and  recalls  those  which  it  has  done,  so  that  nothing  may  remain  in 
the  mind,  either  not  corrected  or  needing  correction.*^ 

I  beg  you  then  to  examine  carefully  what  I  understand  by  the  word 
consideration;  for  I  do  not  assert  that  it  is  everywhere  the  same  thing 
as  contemplation,  especially  as  the  latter  consists  properly  in  (the) 
certainty  (of  things),  the  former  in  the  search  after  things  (inquiry, 
examination).  So  that,  in  that  sense,  we  can  define  contemplation  by 
saying  that  it  is  a  true  and  certain  vision  of  something  by  the  mind, 
or  an  assured  and  undoubted  conception  of  the  truth ;  and  that  con- 
sideration is  thought  applied  to  research,  or  an  application  of  the  mind 
seeking  for  truth,  although  often  the  two  are  taken  without  distinction 
one  for  the  other.*^ 

A  point  made  by  the  abbot  is  worth  noting.  This  volitional 
"  means  of  approach  "  is  for  exiles,  not  for  citizens;  but  when 
they  have  returned  to  their  true  spiritual  state,  it  has  served 
its  purpose,  and  is  abandoned  for  the  ineffable  joys  of  contem- 
plation. But  the  "  Ladder  of  Perfection  "  begins  at  the  lowest 
steps,  and  these  are  not  to  be  despised. 

viii.  Ecstasy  and  Desolation 

In  order  that  we  may  judge  of  the  nature  of  that  "  assured 
and  evident  knowledge  "  which  has  God  for  its  object,  "  be- 
holding in  His  perfection  unveiled,"  the  following  extracts  are 
made  from  St.  Bernard's  sermons.  They  illustrate  personal 
experiences  which  we  may  fairly  assume  to  be  the  basis  of  his 
theological  disquisitions.  They  represent  the  final  blossoms 
of  Consideration  directed  towards  God ;  and  they  seem  to  con- 
firm the  thought  that  so  long  as  God  is  conc^lyed  of  as  an 

40  De  Consideratione,  I.  vii.  41  Jbid.  II.  ii, 


RULES  AND  METHODS  449 

object  He  cannot  be  knozvn  at  all,  but  only  thought  of  in  faith. 
True  knowledge  of  God  only  comes  when  subject  and  object 
are  mystically  merged  in  union.  Even  then  Bernard's  words 
must  be  regarded  as  faint  records  of  reminiscences  impossible 
to  define. 

The  Excellency  of  the  Vision  of  God.—  But  be  most  careful  not  to 
allow  yourself  to  think  that  there  is  anything  imaginary,  on  the  one 
hand,  or  corporeal,  on  the  other  hand,  in  this  mingling  of  the  Word 
(Logos)  with  the  soul.  ...  I  go  on  to  express,  in  what  words  I  am 
able,  the  absorption  of  a  pure  soul  into  God,  or  the  hallowed  and 
blessed  descent  of  God  into  the  soul,  comparing  spiritual  things  with 
spiritual.  That  union,  then,  is  made  in  spirit,  because  God  is 
spirit.  .  .  .  For  He  is  the  Word;  he  does  not  sound  in  the  ears, 
but  penetrates  the  Heart;  He  is  not  full  of  words,  but  full  of 
power;  nor  does  He  come  to  the  ears  as  with  a  sound,  but  to  the 
affections  with  sweetness  ineffable. 

Even  in  this  present  life  He  appears  to  whom  He  wills,  but  in  the 
manner  He  wills,  not  as  He  is.*^ 

Of  that  Ecstasy  which  is  called  Contemplation. —  I  may  then,  with- 
out absurdity,  call  that  ecstasy  of  the  soul  death;  but  it  is  a  death 
which,  far  from  depriving  her  of  life,  delivers  her  from  the  snares 
which  are  dangerous  to  life.  For  in  this  life  we  proceed  in  the  midst 
of  snares,  and  the  soul  is  delivered  from  the  fear  of  these,  whenever 
it  is,  so  to  speak,  ravished  out  of  itself  by  intense  and  holy  thoughts, 
provided  that  it  is  separated  from,  and  elevated  above  itself  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  transcend  its  usual  habit  of  thinking.  .  .  .  For  when 
the  soul  is  in  that  state,  it  ceases  not,  indeed,  to  have  life,  but  to 
have  consciousness  of  its  life,  and  therefore  it  does  not  feel  any 
temptation.  .  .  .  Would  that  I  might  thus  die  often  !  .  .  .  Good  in- 
deed is  that  death  which  does  not  take  away  life,  but  only  changes  it 
into  a  better  form ;  which  does  not  strike  down  the  body,  but  elevates 
the  soul. 

...  so  that,  departing  from  the  remembrance  of  things  present, 
and  being  divested  not  only  of  the  desire  for,  but  also  of  the  haunting 
ideas  and  images  of  things  corporeal  and  inferior,  it  may  enter  into 
pure  relations  with  those  in  which  is  the  image  and  likeness  of  purity. 
Of  this  nature,  I  consider,  is  the  ecstasy  in  which  contemplation  wholly 
or  principally  consists.  For  to  be,  while  still  living,  delivered  from 
the  power  of  desires  for  things  material,  is  a  degree  of  human  virtue, 
but  to  be  brought  out  of  the  sphere  of  material  forms  and  ideas  is 
a  privilege  of  angelic  purity.  .  .  .  Blessed  is  he  who  can  say: 
Lo  I  have  fled  far  away  and  abode  in  solitude .'  *^ 

The  Visitation  of  the  Word  (Logos).  —  I  confess  then,  though  I 
say  it  in  my  foolishness,  that  the  Word  has  visited  me,  and  very  often. 
But  although  He  has  frequiently  entered  my  soul,  I  have  never  at  any 
time  been  sensible  of  the  precise  moment  of  His  coming.  I  have  felt 
that  He  was  present.  I  remember  that  He  has  been  present  with  me ; 
I  have  sometimes  been  able  even  to  have  a  presentiment  that  He 
would  come,  but  never  to  feel  His  coming  nor  His  departure.  ...  It 
is  not  by  the  eyes  .  .  .  not  by  the  ears  .  .  .  nor  by  the  mouth  .  .  . 

42  Serm.   Cant.  xxxi.   6.  43  Serm.   Cant.   iii.  4,   5. 


450  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

but  with  the  mind  that  He  is  blended.  By  what  avenue,  then,  has 
He  entered?  Or  perhaps  the  fact  may  be  that  He  has  not  entered 
at  all,  nor  indeed  come  at  all  from  outside.  I  have  ascended  higher 
than  myself,  and  lo,  I  have  found  the  Word  above  me  still  .  .  .  and 
yet  I  have  found  Him  at  still  a  lower  depth.  If  I  have  looked  without 
myself,  I  have  found  that  He  is  beyond  that  which  is  outside  of  me, 
or  if  within  He  was  at  an  inner  depth  still.  And  thus  I  have  learned 
the  truth  of  the  words  I  have  read :  In  Him  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being  **^ 

There  is  a  phase  of  religious  experience  which  the  Catholic 
mystics  often  refer  to  under  various  terms  —  darkness,  dry- 
ness, desolation.  It  is  a  time  when  the  aspirant  is  deprived  of 
that  benediction  which  is  his  spiritual  food;  it  occurs  from 
various  causes,  but  they  are  not  always  known.  St.  Bernard 
describes  his  desolation  which  leads  to  fresh  prayer  in  the  fol- 
lowing beautiful  words : 

But  when  the  Word  withdrew  Himself,  all  these  spiritual  powers 
and  faculties  (described  above)  began  to  droop  and  languish,  as  if 
the  fire  had  been  withdrawn  from  a  bubbling  pot ;  and  this  is  to  me 
a  sign  of  His  departure.  Then  my  soul  is  necessarily  sad  and  de- 
pressed until  He  shall  return.  .  .  .  And  as  often  as  He  shall  leave 
me,  so  often  shall  He  be  called  back  by  my  voice;  nor  will  I  cease  to 
send  after  Him  my  cries  as  He  departs,  expressing  my  ardent  desire 
that  He  should  return,  and  that  He  should  restore  to  me  the  joy  of 
His  salvation,  the  life-giving  presence  of  Himself. 

This  surely  is  the  quest  of  the  "  supersubstantial  bread." 

V.  Quietism 

I  must  pass  over  the  very  important  group  of  ideas  regard- 
ing prayer  to  be  found  in  what  is  called  by  the  general  term 
German  Mysticism.  I  judge  the  movement  to  be  very  largely 
a  renaissance  of  Neo-Platonism  in  the  more  virile  religious  life 
of  the  people  of  North-West  Europe.  Albert  the  Great  (the 
teacher  of  Aquinas),  describes  in  his  Deo  Adhoerendo  a  prac- 
tice of  prayer  which  excludes  petition  and  exalts  communion, 
and  he  is  followed  by  a  long  line  of  teachers,  including  Eckhart. 
Tauler,  Suso,  Ruysbroek,  A  Kempis,  and  the  author  of  Theo- 
logia  Germanica.  Protestant  mysticism,  I  should  say,  arose 
from  this  school,  and  received  into  itself  a  large  share  of  in- 
spiration from  another  —  less  intellectual  but  more  devotional 
—  stream  of  religious  life  which  is  designated  "  Quietism." 
Here  prayer  takes  some  remarkable  forms. 

The  designation  "  Quietists  "    (hesychastae)   was  first  ap- 

44  Serm.   Cant.  Ixxxiv.  s,  6. 


RULES  AND  IMETHODS  451 

plied  to  monks  who  were  allowed  to  have  separate  cells  within 
the  precincts  of  the  monastery  so  that  their  meditations  might 
be  uninterrupted ;  it  may  also  have  referred  to  those  who  were 
bound  by  a  vow  to  silence,  whether  solitary  or  in  company. 
In  either  case  strict  silence  would  affect  the  methods  of  prayer 
adopted  by  these  men.  In  the  fourteenth  century  the  word 
Hesychastae  was  applied  to  the  mystics  of  Mount  Athos  and 
covered  the  doctrinal  as  well  as  disciplinary  characteristics  of 
these  extraordinary  men.  A  few  particulars  about  them  may 
be  of  interest.  During  the  reign  of  Andronicus  the  Younger, 
when  Symeon  was  abbot  at  Athos,  the  monks  began  to  speak  of 
a  Divine  light,  uncreated  and  yet  capable  of  being  communi- 
cated, approachable  by  a  process  of  complete  seclusion  from  the 
world  and  persistent  introspection,  facilitated  by  contemplation 
of  the  solar  plexus.  These  physical  contortions  would  not 
have  attracted  much  attention  had  it  not  been  for  the  grave 
theological  dispute  which  arose  about  the  nature  of  the  Divine 
light  which  they  felt  suffusing  them  as  they  sat  in  quiet  seclu- 
sion. It  was  finally  settled  in  their  favour  by  the  adhesion  of 
the  Byzantine  Emperor  Cantacuzenos  to  their  sect  (1351). 
Quietism  of  this  sort  was  already  doubly  heretical  from  the 
view-point  of  the  Roman  Church. 

i.  Santa  Teresa's  "  Prayer  of  Quiet  " 

In  the  orthodox  mysticism  of  Spain  the  term  "  quiet  "  ap- 
pears in  the  writings  of  Santa  Teresa  (15 15-1582)  especially 
applied  to  a  system  of  prayer,  but  it  was  not  until  the  con- 
demnation of  ]\Iolinos  that  "  Quietism  "  became  a  term  of  re- 
proach on  account  of  the  ethical  and  theological  peculiarities  of 
its  professors. 

Inasmuch  as  IMolinos  often  appealed  to  the  authority  of 
Teresa  it  may  be  well  to  refer  to  her  received  teaching  about 
prayer,  including  the  Prayer  of  Quiet.  Teresa's  conventual 
experience  had  opened  her  eyes  to  the  fact  that  vocal  prayer  — 
that  is  to  say,  the  recital  of  prayers,  however  thoughtfully  re- 
peated —  could  not  satisfy  the  soul.  She  felt  that  there  should 
be  greater  freedom.  Mental  prayer  was  therefore  early 
adopted  by  her,  and  —  though  often  interrupted  for  long  in- 
tervals—  became  the  germ  of  the  mystical  theology  of  which 
she  was  destined  to  be  so  great  an  exponent. 

She  divided  mental  prayer  into  four  distinct  stages  :  the  stage 
of  recollectedness,  the  stage  of  quietude,  the  stage  of  union, 


452  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  the  stage  of  ecstasy  or  rapture.  Molinos  follows  Teresa  in 
general,  and  the  term  used  to  describe  her  second  stage  of 
prayer  was  applied  to  his  system  as  a  whole. 

ii.  Bourignon 

One  of  the  most  original  and  thorough-going  Quietists, 
whose  teaching  draws  some  of  its  inspiration  from  Santa 
Teresa,  is  Antoinette  Bourignon,  of  the  Low  Countries.  She 
was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Quietists  to  establish  religion  on 
an  entirely  personal  basis,  repudiating  all  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity of  any  kind  —  but  substituting  her  own !  She  was  far  more 
outspoken  than  any  of  the  better  known  Quietists,  and  I  print 
here  a  few  extracts  from  her  writings  as  typical  of  the  direc- 
tion in  which  Quietism  naturally  goes. 

The  resignation  of  our  will  to  that  of  God  supplies  all  things.  We 
no  longer  need  any  means  of  devotions,  such  as  Fasting,  Public  Wor- 
ship, and  the  Sacraments,  because  God  works  in  us  what  pleases  Him, 
and  we  have  no  further  need  to  act,  requiring  only  to  be  still  and 
passive.  Our  devotions  are  without  ceasing  and  we  are  always  at 
prayer. 

I  discover  all  truths  in  the  interior  of  my  soul,  especially  when  I  am 
recollected  in  my  solitude  in  a  forgetfulness  of  all  things.  Then  my 
spirit  communes  with  Another  Spirit,  and  they  entertain  one  another 
as  two  friends  who  converse  about  serious  matters.  And  this  con- 
versation is  so  sweet  that  I  have  sometimes  passed  a  whole  day  and  a 
night  in  it  without  interruption  or  standing  in  need  of  meat  or  drink. 

To  be  resigned  to  God  we  must  have  no  more  self-will,  to  will  this 
and  not  to  will  that  .  .  .  Resignation  to  God  is  a  total  dependence 
upon  His  disposal,  as  well  for  our  soul  as  for  our  body,  bridling  our 
will  in  everything  and  desiring  nothing,  since  His  conduct  is  always 
better  than  anything  for  which  we  could  wish.  If  it  rain  or  be  fair, 
if  it  be  hot  or  cold,  if  we  are  at  peace  or  at  war,  in  adversity  or  pros- 
perity, if  our  friend  live  or  die,  what  does  it  matter? 

And  although  men  think  it  a  happiness  to  have  good  desires,  it  is 
infinitely  better  to  have  no  desires  at  all  with  complete  dependence 
upon  God. 

It  will  be  observed  from  the  sentiments  expressed  in  these 
few  words  that  Antoinette  Bourignon  antagonises  faith  to  re- 
ligious discipline,  and  with  considerable  force.  Her  prohibi- 
tion extended  to  united  and  systematic  prayer.  Some  of  her 
followers  proposed  to  hold  prayer-meetings  at  fixed  hours,  but 
she  interposed  with  a  vehement  veto.  Things  spiritual  must  on 
no  account  be  arranged,  lest  they  should  lose  spontaneity  — "  to 
kneel  before  God  without  elevation  of  soul  is  wickedness." 


RULES  AND  METHODS  453 

"  Prayer  consists  in  an  elevation  of  the  spirit  unto  God,  which 
may  be  while  we  work  and  walk  and  eat  and  drink,  and  even 
while  we  rest;  yea,  even  in  sleeping  our  will  ought  to  bless 
Him  always." 

iii.  Miguel  de  Molinos 

Molinos,  by  far  the  greatest  of  the  Quietists,  was  born  at 
Saragossa  in  1640,  and  settled  in  Rome  in  1670.  He  pub- 
lished, at  the  instance  of  the  Provincial  of  the  Franciscan 
Order,  his  Giiida  Spirituale  — "  The  Spiritual  Guide,  which 
Disentangles  the  Soul  and  brings  it  by  the  Inward  Way  to  the 
Fruition  of  Perfect  Contemplation  and  the  rich  treasure  of 
Internal  Peace."  It  made  an  immense  sensation,  and  at  first 
his  success  was  unbroken.  His  teaching  was  hailed  almost  as 
a  new  religion  and  would  have  led  to  a  reformation  of  a  very 
remarkable  nature  if  it  had  not  been  checked  by  the  Jesuits, 
who  drew  up  from  his  writings  a  list  of  sixty-eight  charges, 
some  of  which  I  shall  now  quote  as  a  rapid  introduction  to  his 
doctrines  and  consequently  his  methods  of  prayer : 

12.  After  remitting  our  freewill  to  God  we  must  also  abandon  all 
thought  and  care  of  what  concerns  ourselves  —  even  the  care  of  doing 
in  ourselves,  without  ourselves,  His  Divine  Will. 

13.  He  who  has  given  his  freewill  to  God  ought  to  have  no  further 
anxiety  about  anything,  neither  of  Hell,  nor  of  Paradise;  he  ought 
not  to  have  a  desire  of  his  own  perfection,  of  virtues,  of  his  sanctifica- 
tion,  nor  his  salvation. 

14.  It  does  not  become  him  who  is  resigned  to  the  will  of  God  to 
ask  of  Him,  because  to  ask  is  an  imperfection,  being  an  act  of  the 
personal  will  and  of  personal  choice. 

17.  The  freewill  being  remitted  to  God  with  the  care  and  the 
knowledge  of  our  soul,  we  need  have  no  more  concern  about  tempta- 
tions, nor  trouble  in  resisting  them,  unless  negatively  and  without 
any  other  effort. 

2y.  He  who  desires  and  stops  at  sensible  devotion  neither  desires 
nor  seeks  God.  but  Himself;  and  he  who  walks  in  the  "  interior  way  " 
sins  in  desiring  sensible  devotion,  and  in  exciting  himself  in  holy 
places  and  at  solemn  festivals. 

33.  The  soul  that  is  walking  in  the  "  interior  way "  does  wrong 
to  awaken  in  himself,  by  any  effort  at  solenm  festivals,  sentiments  of 
devotion,  because  all  days  to  the  interior  soul  are  alike,  all  are  solemn 
festivals;  I  say  the  same  of  sacred  places,  for  to  it  all  places  are 
alike. 

57.  By  acquired  contemplation  we  reach  a  state  in  which  we  com- 
mit no  more  sin,  mortal  or  venial. 

59.  The  "  interior  way  "  has  nothing  to  do  with  confession  or  con- 
fessors, theology  or  philosophy. 

63.  By  the  "  interior  way  "  we  obtain  a  fixed  state  of  imperturbable 
peace. 


454  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  many  of  these  affirmations 
cut  at  the  root  of  spiritual  discipline  as  designed  by  the  Church, 
and,  in  the  case  of  No.  14  especially,  at  all  petitionary  prayer. 
It  remains,  therefore,  to  make  clear  what  is  the  Interior  Way 
of  Molinos.  It  appears  to  me  to  begin  at  the  point  at  which 
all  volitional  effort  in  the  religious  life  has  been  laid  aside, 
when  study,  asceticism,  discipline,  reasoned  meditation,  ritual 
prayers,  and  burdens  of  all  kinds  have  been  entirely  abandoned, 
and  when  in  place  of  them  all  we  recall  to  our  minds  the  fact 
that  the  soul  is  dependent  upon  God  and  is  in  His  presence 
always.  Recollection  in  the  presence  of  God  is  the  preliminary 
to  faith ;  faith  is  that  state  in  which  we  stand  ready  to  receive 
the  illumination  which  is  given  us  from  above,  according  to 
our  ability  to  receive  it.  For  all  this  doctrine  rests  upon  the 
classic  dictum  of  Jesus  Christ :  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth  ...  so  is  he  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  Religion 
ceases  to  be  a  process  in  which  man  strives  to  reach  God,  and 
becomes  rather  the  work  of  God  in  those  souls  who  prepare 
themselves  for  the  coming  of  His  Spirit. 

The  inner  way  is  the  reverse  of  all  effort;  it  is  the  way  of 
Resignation,  Quiet,  Faith,  and  Passive  Contemplation;  it  is 
the  way  which  allows  God  to  take  possession,  to  direct,  to 
control,  to  bless,  to  inspire.  Molinos  declares  there  be  few 
indeed  that  find  it.     He  says : 

2.  There  are  other  truly  Spiritual  Men,  who  have  passed  beyond  the 
beginning  of  the  Inner  way  which  leads  to  Perfection  and  Union  with 
God.  These  men,  withdrawn  into  the  inner  parts  of  their  Souls,  re- 
signing themselves  wholly  into  the  hands  of  God,  do  always  go  with 
an  uplifted  spirit  into  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  by  the  means  of  pure 
Faith,  without  Image,  Form  or  Figure,  but  with  great  assurance, 
founded  in  tranquillity  and  inner  rest;  in  which  infused  Recollection 
the  Spirit  gathers  itself  with  such  force  that  it  concentrates  thereon 
the  mind,  heart,  body,  and  all  the  physical  powers.*^ 

5.  In  the  same  way  they  are  always  quiet,  serene  and  even-minded 
in  Graces  and  in  extraordinary  favours,  as  also  in  the  most  rigorous 
and  bitter  torments.  No  news  causes  them  to  rejoice,  no  event  sad- 
dens them;  tribulations  cannot  disquiet  them,  nor  are  they  made 
vainglorious  by  the  constant  communing  of  their  hearts  with  God, 
but  they  ever  remain  filled  with  holy  and  filial  fear,  resting  in  won- 
derful peace,  constancy  and  serenity.  .  .  . 

7.  In  the  Inner  Way  it  is  the  Lord  Who  operates;  virtue  establishes 
itself,  desires  eradicate  themselves,  imperfections  destroy  themselves, 
and  passions  allay  themselves.  Wherefore  the  soul  without  thought 
finds  herself  free  and  detached  when  occasions  arise  without  ever 
thinking  of  the  good  which  God  in  His  infinite  mercy  had  prepared 
for  her. 

45  III.  i.  2. 


RULES  AND  METHODS  455 

9.  It  is  their  continual  exercise  to  withdraw  into  themselves,  in 
God,  with  quiet  and  silence,  because  there  is  His  Centre,  Habitation 
and  Delight.  They  make  a  greater  account  of  this  inner  withdrawal 
than  of  speaking  of  God;  they  withdraw  into  that  inner  and  secret 
Centre  of  the  Soul,  in  order  to  know  God  and  to  receive  His  Divine 
Influence,  with  fear  and  loving  reverence.'"' 

.  .  .  This  is  the  true  Solitude,  wherein  the  Soul  reposes  with  a 
sweet  and  inward  serenity,  in  the  arms  of  the  Highest  Good. 

120.  O  what  infinite  room  is  there  in  a  Soul  that  has  attained.  O 
what  inward,  what  hidden,  what  secret,  what  spacious,  what  vast 
ranges  are  there  within  a  happy  Soul  that  has  once  come  to  be  truly 
Solitary ! 

121.  O  delightful  Solitude,  Symbol  of  Eternal  I'.lcssings !  O  Mir- 
ror in  which  the  Eternal  Father  is  always  beheld !  *'' 

As  soon  as  the  Jesuit  Order  had  realised  the  danger  of  the 
new  teaching  and  seen  its  influence  in  the  Church,  they  chose 
one  of  their  most  popular  members,  Father  Paul  Segneri, 
whom  I  have  already  quoted  on  p.  438,  to  write  against  it. 
At  first  he  did  so  in  friendly  vein  in  his  Concordia  tra  la  fatica 
e  la  quieta  ncW  oraj:ionc. 

The  time  came,  however,  when  the  declaration  of  hostility 
was  clear  and  determined,  and  Molinos  was  condemned  and 
imprisoned  in  1687.  He  died  after  twelve  years'  seclusion  in 
cloister  or  dungeon.  His  friend  Petrucci,  Bishop  of  Jesi, 
supported  the  cause  in  Italy  by  means  of  correspondence,  and  I 
give  a  specimen  of  his  teaching: 

7.  But  I  can  never  say  enough  of  the  necessity  of  faith  in  mental 
prayer.  ...  I  advise  you  to  endeavour  to  put  yourself  immediately 
upon  the  apprehension  of  the  real  Presence  of  God  .  .  .  rest  con- 
tented to  know  by  Eaith  that  you  are  most  immediately  present  to 
God,  that  you  are  willing  to  love  Him  dearly,  depend  upon  Him, 
please  Him  and  glorify  Him,  and  that  you  study  not  your  own  satis- 
faction ;  in  such  a  condition  be  constant,  patient  and  cheerful  in 
spirit  and  calm  in  the  midst  of  dryness,  temptations,  vain  imagina- 
tions, that  befall  you  in  the  time  of  prayer.  If  you  cannot  meditate  on 
the  point  or  points  upon  which  you  had  fixed  be  at  least  content 
to  stand  entirely  immersed  in  the  Divinity  of  your  God,  believe 
therefore  from  your  heart  that  He  is  in  you,  and  that  you  live  and 
move  in  Him,  and  so  adore  Him  in  the  depth  of  spirit,  love  Him,  and 
be  inwardly  quiet  in  this  state  of  faith,  adoration  and  love.  .  .  .*^ 

Quietism  flourished  in  the  free  air  of  France,  whose  Church 
often  showed  a  tolerance  and  independence  of  spirit  unfamiliar 
to  Italy  and  Spain.  Malaval  wrote  voluminous  works  in  the 
same  strain  as  Molinos.     Lacombe  composed  an  Analyse  de 

i9lll.    ii.    5,    7,    9.  il  III.    xiii.    no,    120,    121. 

48  Christian    Perfection,    x.    7. 


456  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

I'oraison  mentale,  in  which  the  familiar  terms  of  Teresa  and 
Molinos  are  reproduced, 

iv.  Madame  Guyon 

A  brief  reference  to  Madame  Guyon  will  suffice  in  the  cir- 
cumstances. This  remarkable  lady  placed  herself  under  the 
direction  of  Lacombe,  and  may,  therefore,  be  considered  a 
lineal  spiritual  descendant  of  the  great  Molinos.  A  graceful 
writer,  Madame  Guyon  wrote  many  works  of  spiritual  autobi- 
ography. Her  Short  and  Easy  Method  of  Prayer  gives  a 
statement  of  her  teaching  and  is  well  worth  perusal.  It  makes 
more  clear  than  ever  the  doctrine  that  the  only  effort  required 
by  true  prayer  is  the  removal  of  obstacles  in  order  that  the 
Divine  life  may  work  in  us.  Madame  Guyon  was  herself 
gifted  with  extraordinary  spiritual  experiences  sufficient  to 
confirm  in  her  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  she  accepted. 

V.  The  Prayer  of  Interior  Silence 

My  closing  illustration  will  be  from  a  Spanish  priest,  Anto- 
nio de  Rojas  by  name,  the  author  of  Vita  Dello  Spirit o,  a  work 
condemned  by  the  Papal  Inquisitors  in  1689: 

The  soul,  having  an  implicit  assurance  by  a  bare  and  obscure  faith 
that  God,  Who  is  incomprehensible  universal  goodness,  is  indeed 
present  to  her,  and  in  her;  all  that  remains  for  her  to  do  is;  to 
continue  in  His  presence  in  the  quality  of  a  petitioner,  but  such  an 
one  that  makes  no  special  direct  requests,  but  contents  herself  to 
appear  before  Him  with  all  her  wants  and  necessities,  best  and 
indeed  only  known  to  Him,  Who  therefore  needs  not  her  informa- 
tion; so  that  she,  with  a  silent  attention,  regards  God  only,  rejecting 
all  manner  of  images  of  all  objects  whatsoever,  and  with  the  will 
she  frames  no  particular  request  nor  any  express  acts  towards  God, 
but  remains  in  an  entire  silence  both  of  tongue  and  thoughts,  with  a 
sweet  tacit  consent  of  love,  the  will  permitting  God  to  take  entire 
possession  of  the  soul  as  of  a  temple  wholly  belonging  and  conse- 
crated to  Him,  in  which  He  is  already  present. 

A  peculiar  interest  attaches  to  this  work  because  the  writer, 
conscious  of  the  opposition  from  the  orthodox  side,  attempts 
on  his  side  a  "  harmony  of  effort  and  quiet."  He  shows,  and, 
I  think,  with  great  conviction  and  beauty  of  diction,  that  the 
Prayer  of  Interior  Silence  really  covers  all  these  manifold 
duties  and  virtues  which  the  advocates  of  the  more  active  voli- 
tional religious  life  make  necessary.     He  says: 

In  this,  all  the  Divine  virtues  are  in  a  sublime  manner  exercised 
and  fulfilled :  — 


RULES  AND  METHODS  457 

Faith,  by  quitting  all  discourse  and  doubting,  the  soul  ever  per- 
ceives the  Divine  presence  by  which  she  conquers  the  world; 

Hope,  because  the  soul  confidently  expects  that  God  will  impart 
to  her  both  the  knowledge  of  His  will  and  the  ability  to  fulfil  it; 

Love,  because  the  soul  resolutely  affects  nothing  but  correspond- 
ence to  the  Divine  love; 

Resignation,  because  the  soul  forgets  all  private  interests,  has 
nothing  at  all  to  ask,  neither  repose  nor  business,  but  only  whatsoever 
God  would  have  her  to  enjoy,  do,  or  suffer; 

Patience,  because  herein  the  soul  must  expect  to  suffer  dryness, 
desolation,  obscurity,  incumbrances  of  thoughts,  temptations,  and 
other  internal  inflictions; 

Purity,  for  the  soul  is  hereby  separated  from  all  adhesion  to  the 
creatures,  being  united  to  God  only; 

Mortification,  because  the  eye  sees  nothing  to  please  the  sense,  the 
ear  hears  nothing,  the  images  and  representations  of  the  memory, 
the  will  is  separated  from  all  created  things,  neither  willing  nor 
nilling  any  of  them,  but  permitting  God  to  will  only; 

Humility,  because  the  soul  is  hereby  reduced  to  nothing; 

Obedience,  because  the  understanding  closes  the  wings  of  all  dis- 
courses and  disputes  against  anything  that   God  commands. 

Finally,  here  is  adoration,  sacrifice,  devotion,  in  which  God  and  His 
perfections  are  alone  exposed  to  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  to  be 
contemplated  by  the  mind.  Here  is  abstraction  in  perfection,  and 
all  is  learned  by  having  abstraction. 

Though  the  exercise  be  the  same  in  substance  at  all  times,  yet  by 
long  practice  it  grows  more  and  more  pure  and  abstracted,  the  silence 
and  introversion  grow  more  profound  and  the  operations  more  imper- 
ceptible, and  it  all  in  time  securely  brings  a  soul  to  that  which  St. 
Teresa  calls  the  Prayer  of  Quietness,  which  is  indeed  perfect  con- 
templation, 

vi.  Quakerism 

It  can  hardly  escape  notice  that  in  Quietism  are  to  be  found 
the  roots  of  many  religious  manifestations  known  in  England 
and  America  from  the  seventeenth  century  onwards.  Its  dis- 
tinctly personal  aspect  is  harmonious  with  Protestant  con- 
ceptions, and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Quietist  literature 
was  so  popular  in  England.  In  particular  I  may  point  out 
that  Quakerism,  which  appeared  in  England  in  the  second 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  belongs  properly  to  the  Quietist 
movement.  Here  mortification  gave  place  to  a  sane  simplicity ; 
neither  the  intellect  nor  the  senses  were  made  the  avenue  of 
approach  to  God,  but  the  spirit ;  in  consequence,  thinking 
during  prayer  was  laid  aside  in  common  with  music  and  ritual 
of  all  kinds. 

The  Quakers  laid  emphasis  on  meeting  together  to  wait 
upon  the  Spirit  of  God  to  guide  and  inspire  them  in  His  own 
way.     Their  Quietism,  moreover,  had  a  strong  ethical  devel- 


458  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

opment  and  led  them  to  abandon  all  forms  of  strife  and  con- 
tention and  to  testify  against  war.  George  Fox  declared  that 
'he  had  come  into  that  life  which  took  away  all  occasion  for 
war.  The  "  Friends'  Meeting  "  is  held  on  the  basis  of  a  mysti- 
cal silence  of  words,  thoughts,  and  desires,  during  which  the 
spirit  of  each  is  united  to  God,  and  in  consequence  each  is 
united  to  all. 

Christian  Science  and  New  Thought  of  various  kinds  are 
based  on  faith  and  prayer  of  the  Quietist  type,  but  I  do  not 
propose  to  enter  into  a  further  study  of  these,  deeming  it  nec- 
essary only  to  point  to  the  connecting  link. 


XXI 

IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS 


BY 

DAVID   RUSSELL 

OF    THE     WALKER     TRUST 


XXI 

IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS 

Inquirers  have  asked  what  evidence  there  is  in  the  essays 
contributed  under  the  Walker  Trust  scheme  to  show  that  any 
real  value  can  be  attached  to  prayer.  No  direct  answer  can 
be  given  to  such  an  inquiry  except  to  state  that  while  the 
numerous  essays  received  represent  all  phases  of  spiritual, 
intellectual,  and  material  conditions,  one  common  feature  is 
discernible  throughout,  and  that  is  the  sense  of  the  benefits, 
varying  in  nature  and  intensity,  which  have  been  conferred 
on  the  writers  through  the  medium  of  prayer. 

It  is  perhaps  natural  to  ask  the  further  question  as  to  what 
impression  is  left  upon  the  mind  after  reading  these  records 
of  human  experiences.  The  present  writer  has  been  identified 
with  the  scheme  from  its  inception  and  has  studied  many  of  the 
1667  essays  from  a  standpoint  other  than  that  of  the  theolo- 
gian ;  it  may  therefore  be  worth  while  to  state  briefly  some  of 
his  impressions  and  to  indicate  points  on  which  he  has  been 
helped  to  greater  clearness  or  certainty. 

In  the  first  place,  the  wide  response  to  the  invitation  for 
essays  on  prayer  is  remarkable.  The  uniformity  of  the  evi- 
dence, and  the  simplicity  and  earnestness  of  many  of  the  con- 
tributors, make  a  continuous  and  an  increasing  appeal.  The 
reading  of  these  essays  was  an  experience  of  profound  signifi- 
cance, but  one  which  cannot  be  communicated,  or  reproduced 
through  the  medium  of  summaries.  No  single  essay,  possibly 
no  small  group  of  essays,  can  be  of  such  outstanding  and  all- 
inclusive  interest  and  value  as  to  be  representative  of  the  whole, 
and  the  nineteen  selected  essays  taken  together  give  only  a 
faint  idea  of  the  cumulative  effect  of  reading  the  evidence  of 
the  many  writers  who  have  contributed  essays  under  this 
scheme.  The  type  most  difficult  to  represent  is  the  simple 
narrative  of  lives  lived  confidently,  through  every  hardship, 
in  *'  the  practice  of  the  presence  of  God." 

On  a  review  of  the  whole  experience,  details,  for  the  most 
part,  recede  into  insignificance.  To  practically  all  the  contribu- 
tors prayer  is  something  real  and  of  inestimable  value.     Many 

461 


462  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

of  the  questions  that  have  arisen  remain  unsolved,  but  the  read- 
ing and  the  pondering  have  resuked  in  broadened  sympathies 
and,  above  all,  in  a  deepened  conviction  as  to  the  power  of 
prayer. 

I.  Prayer  as  Illumination 

Deep  within  the  heart  of  humanity  there  are  soul-depths  that 
no  man  can  fathom.  There  is  an  infinite  craving  for  some 
infinite  filling  that,  when  awakened,  calls  consciously  or  un- 
consciously for  the  companionship  that  is  of  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

The  ephemeral  ever  tends  to  veil  the  eternal,  but  the  tem- 
poral, however  great  its  splendour,  will  cease  to  satisfy,  or  will 
crumble  into  insignificance  or  change  to  bitterness  before  the 
revealing  of  the  eternal.  What  is  temporal  passes  away:  the 
eternal  energies  alone  remain  and  persist,  but  it  is  only  when 
the  material  and  the  temporal  fail  to  satisfy  the  call  of  the 
awakening  spirit  that  humanity  turns  to  the  deeper  things  of 
hfe. 

The  turning  is  often  fitful;  there  may  be  a  vague  feeling  of 
unwillingness  to  trust  in  that  which  is  unknown  or  only  dimly 
perceived,  but  where  there  is  the  desire  to  seek  beyond  the 
temporal,  the  realisation  of  eternal  values  will  evolve  accord- 
ing to  the  strength  and  continuing  purpose  behind  the  desire. 
The  awakening  to  a  consciousness  of  this  realisation  may  come 
gradually  with  the  slow  dawning  of  new  vision,  or  suddenly 
with  a  momentary  flash  of  revelation  that  for  ever  changes 
the  significance  of  life.  It  comes  as  the  dawn  of  a  new  day 
with  a  new  illumination  to  give  meaning  to  all  the  activities 
of  life. 

Prayer,  as  we  read  of  it  in  these  records,  may  be  divided 
into  two  great  types  — 

(i)  The  prayer  of  those  who,  having  eyes,  see  not,  and, 
having  ears,  hear  not,  but  who  because  of  upbringing,  tradi- 
tion, or  convention,  a  vague  satisfaction,  or  a  sense  of  duty 
fulfilled,  continue  the  habit  of  prayer. 

(2)  The  prayer  of  those  to  whom  vision  has  revealed, 
however  dimly,  the  undiscovered  country  of  the  soul.  Vision 
may  come  to  the  unlettered  boy  as  readily  as  to  the  man  of 
learning.  It  comes  in  the  silence,  it  gives  a  new  purpose  to 
life,  and  thenceforth  the  perspective  of  all  things  is  changed. 

No  philosophy,  no  reasoning,  can  lead  a  soul  through  that 


IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS  463 

silent  portal  into  the  selfless  sphere  of  vision,  which,  once  per- 
ceived, is  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  sure  and  steadfast,  something 
to  live  for  that  is  more  than  life,  something  to  die  for,  if  need 
be,  that  is  more  than  death  and  that  brings  with  it  a  sense  of 
companionship  which  is  incomparably  precious. 

The  ditiference  in  the  attitude  represented  by  the  two  types 
is  as  the  poles  apart,  and  yet  so  fine  that  it  is  at  times 
dirhcult  or  even  impossible  clearly  to  discriminate  between 
them,  so  gradually  does  vision  unfold.  Yet  the  one  knows 
not  what  he  asks,  the  other  knows  not  what  to  ask,  so  over- 
whelming is  the  reality.  To  the  one,  prayer  is  as  the  garment 
of  an  hour;  to  the  other  it  is  a  source  of  strength  and  guidance 
in  every  expression  of  life. 

II.  The  Nature  and  Gain  of  Prayer 

Prayer,  in  the  light  in  which  we  are  considering  it,  is  not 
of  or  for  the  self;  it  is  a  seeking  beyond  the  self  to  know  and 
to  fulfil  a  higher  purpose  than  our  own.  It  is  the  continual 
seeking  for  strength  and  guidance  in  a  purpose  which  we  ever 
strive  to  fulfil  in  harmony  with  God's  will.  To  be  effective 
there  must  be  sustained  purpose  behind  our  impulse  and  there 
must  be  power. 

To  pray  truly  we  must  first  enter,  in  the  spirit  of  faith,  into 
the  peace  of  His  presence.  It  is  not  that  God  is  afar  off, 
but  that  the  petitioner  may  surround  himself  with  conditions 
that  preclude  the  possibility  of  communion  or  of  the  answer 
coming  in  response  to  his  prayer. 

Communion  with  God,  however,  is  not  the  only  object  of 
prayer.  At-one-ment  can  be  realised  only  through  the  Christ- 
life,  that  is,  through  the  expression  of  God  in  every  detail  of 
life.  It  is  to  feel  that  life  is  not  merely  a  struggle  for  earthly 
existence,  but  is  in  its  fulness  the  manifestation  through  us  of 
God.  We  evolve  towards  this  realisation  through  suffering, 
but  only  through  the  suffering  that  frees  within  us  the  Christ- 
spirit  of  love.  "  Produce !  Produce !  "  says  Carlyle.  "  Were 
it  but  the  piti fullest  infinitesimal  fraction  of  a  Product,  pro- 
duce it,  in  God's  name!  'Tis  the  utmost  thou  hast  in  thee." 
We  may  say  with  equal  truth:  "  Live  the  Christ  life!  Live 
the  Christ  life !  Were  it  but  the  piti  fullest  infinitesimal  expres- 
sion of  that  life,  live  it,  express  it  in  God's  name.  'Tis  the 
utmost  thou  hast  in  thee.     'Tis  the  truest  prayer." 


464  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


III.  The  Need  of  Prayer 

Deep  within  the  Hfe  of  the  nations  at  the  present  time  there 
is  the  impulse  of  humanity  seeking  satisfaction ;  the  force  and 
energy  which  are  the  outcome  of  unrest;  the  awakening  to  a 
dim  consciousness  of  real  or  imagined  wrongs  not  yet  under- 
stood ;  the  slow,  cruel  —  because  ruthless  —  intent  to  over- 
come; the  restless  striving  after  unrealised  possibilities;  the 
outburst  of  suppressed  feeling;  the  passionate  bursting  of 
fetters;  the  onrush  of  a  people  seeking  satisfaction.  Whither 
are  they  going?     What  satisfaction  and  fulfilment  is  sought? 

If  the  keynote  of  desire  is  self,  whether  the  individual  self, 
the  social  self,  or  the  national  self,  the  path  lies  through  destruc- 
tion. If  the  keynote  of  desire  and  aspiration  is  not  the  self, 
but  the  ideal  to  be  reached  through  love  and  sacrifice,  then 
the  path,  even  if  destruction  be  necessary,  will  lead  to  a  true 
spiritual  realisation  which,  although  not  of  the  self,  will 
abundantly  satisfy  the  deeper  consciousness  of  being. 

These  great  impulses,  the  outcome  of  desires  and  aspira- 
tions, however,  cannot  be  separated  into  good  and  evil,  for  the 
Spirit  often  works  through  material  forms  to  prepare  the  way 
for  deeper  vision.  But  prayer,  rightly  understood,  will  always 
be  the  approach  to  a  sure  guidance  in  life.  In  an  inclusive 
sense,  it  means  seeking  beyond  the  self,  striving  towards  an 
ideal  that  is  not  of  the  self.  It  is  the  setting  of  the  self  into 
harmony  with  the  Divine  Will,  to  be  receptive  to  its  messages, 
to  be  thrilled  at  times  by  its  impulse,  and  to  understand  its 
guidance.  It  is  an  aspiring  to  something  beyond  the  material. 
It  is  of  the  spirit,  and  this  attitude  —  the  attitude  of  prayer 
for  light  and  guidance  —  was  never  more  needed  than  now. 

The  spirit  in  man  is  liable  to  be  swept  by  irresistible  forces 
for  good  or  for  evil,  and  it  is  this  spirit  that  rules  the  destiny 
of  nations.  Spirit  is  the  greatest  creative  force  in  the  universe, 
the  greatest  power  in  the  moulding  of  character,  and,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  the  nation's  prayers,  uttered  or  un- 
expressed, determine  the  nature  of  the  forces  which  will  sweep 
the  life  of  the  people  in  times  of  crisis. 

No  man,  thinking  to  withdraw  from  the  great  decision,  can 
remain  passive.  No  one  can  throw  off  the  responsibility  of 
his  thoughts,  for,  while  he  lives,  he  is  of  the  nation ;  he  can- 
not live  to  himself  alone.  If  his  desires  are  for  the  self,  he 
adds  his  portion  to  tji?  stren^hgijing  of  the  forces  of  destruc- 


IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS  465 

tion.  If  he  labours  not  for  himself  but  for  humanity,  his  life, 
his  "  prayer,"  even  if  he  never  utter  a  word  of  formal  prayer, 
will  go  in  some  measure  to  strengthen  that  spirit  in  the  nation 
which  is  building  a  new  and  better  order  of  civilisation.  This 
aspect  of  the  national  life  has  been  too  little  realised.  We 
have  taught  the  letter,  and  have  neglected  the  spirit.  We  have 
built  glittering  walls  about  the  self,  and  have  shut  out  the  wider 
vision.  We  have  lived  for  the  hour,  blinded  by  self  to  the 
spirit  that  has  ever  accompanied  us,  waiting  to  make  us 
creators  with  God  and  builders  for  eternity. 

Life  then,  viewed  from  this  standpoint,  is  fundamentally  the 
expression  of  the  spiritual  in  man.  When  the  power  of  the 
spirit  is  realised,  and  when  we  also  realise  the  responsibility 
of  the  individual,  we  shall  be  led  quite  naturally  to  seek  to 
express  the  deepest  reality  of  our  being.  Our  search  will  then 
lead  us  to  consider  how  we  can  best  draw  inspiration  from  the 
source  of  that  which  is  sought  after,  the  source  of  spiritual 
strength. 

But  this  need  is  not  yet  widely  recognised,  and  the  "  prayer," 
the  cry  of  humanity,  is  still  that  it  may  escape  from  inexorable 
fate.  Too  often,  even  in  our  churches,  we  seek  satisfaction  in 
the  formal  and  the  temporal  rather  than  in  inspiration  from  the 
Eternal.  The  infinite  craving  of  the  soul  for  an  infinite  filling 
can  never  thus  be  satisfied. 

IV.  Prayer  and  Law 

A  knowledge  of  natural  law  enables  us  to  use  the  forces  of 
nature  for  our  own  ends,  good  or  evil,  constructive  or  destruc- 
tive. An  extension  of  our  knowledge  in  the  realm  of  law 
would,  it  might  be  assumed,  enable  us  to  use  or  to  manifest 
other  forces  and  powers.  This  possibility  opens  up  a  vast  field 
for  investigation,  but  we  will  pass,  in  this  brief  survey,  to  a 
consideration  only  of  the  deeper  realm  of  cause,  the  realm  of 
Spiritual  Cause  or  Law  to  which  body,  soul,  and  spirit  owe 
their  existence,  their  evolution,  and  their  ultimate  goal.  We 
know  that,  to  make  use  of  natural  law,  the  intelligence  must  be 
able  to  comprehend  its  conditions  and  to  direct  or  to  con- 
trol its  sequence.  Can  \ve  doubt  that,  to  an  intelligence 
great  enough  to  encompass  the  spirit,  there  would  be  re- 
vealed a  realm  of  spiritual  law  —  a  realm  of  law  which, 
though  supreme  in  the  life  of  the  spirit,  we  with  our  finite 
minds  cannot  hope  to  comprehend  or  to  control,  but  whose 


466  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

power  we  may  seek  to  manifest?  And  if  then  this  Spiritual 
ReaHty  or  Cause  is,  as  we  assume  it  to  be,  the  ultimate  reality 
and  the  Power  that  shapes  our  ends  and  .directs  the  evolution 
of  the  soul  of  humanity  to  its  ultimate  and  destined  goal, 
which  we  cannot  but  believe  to  be  good,  we,  allied  to  this  reality, 
shall  live  our  lives  in  the  strength  of  a  power  which  in  the  end 
must  be  supreme,  and  which,  the  more  perfectly  we  are  in 
harmony  with  it,  will  the  more  perfectly  manifest  itself 
through  us. 

V/e  recognise  the  supreme  animating  principle  of  this  power 
in  the  Christ ;  and  we  know  that  through  us  the  Divine  inspira- 
tion can  be  expressed,  manifested,  and  fulfilled.  The  King- 
dom of  God  is  within  us,  and  the  petition  "  Thy  Kingdom 
come  "  can  only  be  fulfilled  through  humanity  manifesting 
that  kingdom.  We  can  draw  near  in  consciousness  to  its 
influence  only  in  the  silence  of  our  being.  We  manifest  it  in 
the  silent  harmony  of  our  lives. 

V.  The  Notes  of  Availing  Prayer 

We  know  that  no  genuine  aspiration  is  lost,  that  in  the 
great  scheme  of  the  universe  no  striving  after  the  ideal  is  in 
vain,  no  prayer  without  its  reward,  but  spiritual  power  is  of 
the  Eternal,  and  we  can  only  seek  from  the  Eternal  things  of 
eternal  significance.  We  cannot,  however,  set  a  limit  and  dis- 
tinguish definitely  between  things  of  temporal  and  of  eternal 
value  without  limiting  the  spiritual  and  the  eternal.  The  eter- 
nal eludes  all  definition  and  knows  no  limitation.  We  seek 
the  eternal  through  the  temporal ;  we  express  ourselves  in 
symbols,  but  the  words  of  our  prayers,  where  at  least  the 
aspiration  should  be  clear,  are  too  often  but  meaningless  sym- 
bols. The  Lord's  Prayer  is  too  often  repeated  but  as  a  man- 
tram  or  incantation  which  might,  for  all  the  purpose  imparted 
to  the  words,  be  in  an  unknown  language. 

To  him  who  lives  in  the  realm  of  the  material  senses,  the 
things  of  the  senses  are  the  realities  of  life.  To  him  who 
rises  in  consciousness  to  an  appreciation  of  the  eternal,  eternal 
values  become  the  directing  factors  in  his  life,  and,  although 
the  two  cannot  be  separated,  the  appeal  of  the  more  temporal 
ceases  to  control  his  actions.  It  may  therefore  be  held  that 
to  instil  into  the  mind  an  appreciation  of  eternal  values  is  the 
truest  object  of  education.     To  put  the  light  that  illumines  the 


IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS  467 

eternal  into  the  possession  of  a  soul  is  to  give  it  a  guiding  light 
that  nothing  can  extinguish ;  for  the  light  will  never  leave  the 
soul  that  has  perceived  its  illumination,  not  even  in  the  darkest 
of  earth's  places. 

The  qualities  essential  to  effective  prayer  and  the  apprecia- 
tion of  eternal  value  may  be  highly  developed  without  the  need 
of  prayer  being  consciously  realised.  The  practice  of  formal 
prayer  is  no  criterion  of  goodness.  The  Christ  life  may  be 
lived  without  the  source  of  its  inspiration  being  understood, 
but  with  a  realisation  of  its  meaning  there  opens  before  hu- 
manity through  prayer  a  vast  source  of  strength  which  wall 
fill  the  consciousness  with  a  new  sense  of  peace,  confidence,  and 
rest  that  comes  with  the  consciousness  of  an  ever  available 
Divine  power. 

The  qualities  essential  to  prayer  are  chiefly  these :  — 

( 1 )  Thankfulness,  love,  reverence  and  calm,  and  the  ear- 
nestness of  desire  and  strength  of  purpose  necessary  to  enable 
us  at  all  times  to  make  a  definite  appeal  with  the  force  of  a 
clear  realisation  of  what  we  are  seeking.  These  or  similar 
qualities  bring  us  rightly  to  the  place  of  prayer. 

(2)  The  receptivity  to  enable  us  to  receive  the  strength, 
the  illumination  and  the  guidance  we  require.  Guidance  may 
come  by  intuition,  but  it  is  only  to  the  seeker  who  is  sincere 
with  himself  in  every  thought  and  action,  and  selfless  in  every 
expression  of  life,  aspiring  always  to  the  highest,  that  intui- 
tion in  every  aspiration  will  be  a  sure  guide.  To  be  passive  or 
receptive  without  first  directing  our  receptivity  may  be  to 
lay  ourselves  open  to  undesirable  influences.  If  a  man  should 
harbour  even  one  secret  aspiration  or  desire  that  is  not  of  the 
highest,  a  prompting  in  the  semblance  or  intuition  or  guidance 
might  come  from  that  desire  and  be  false  in  relation  to  the 
rest  of  his  life.  And  so  a  man's  promptings  will  be  according 
to  his  own  life.  If  he  is  violent  they  may  lead  him  to  violence 
and  destruction.  If  he  is  uncertain  of  himself,  he  will  be 
uncertain  of  his  intuitions.  But  the  right  impulse  or  intuition 
may  come  to  any  man  when  he  stands  most  in  need  of  guidance, 
and  guidance  will  always  come  to  the  man  who  lives  and  aspires 
only  to  the  highest. 

(3)  The  continued  purposes  and  the  energy  of  spirit,  the 
power  and  the  clear  idea  to  enable  us  to  create,  to  actualise 
and  to  fulfil  God's  will  in  the  measure  that  it  is  given  to  us 
and  made  possible  for  us  to  fulfil. 


468  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

It  is  not  enough  to  ask,  nor  is  it  enough  to  receive.  We 
must  fulfil.  It  is  not  enough  to  seek.  We  must  also  serve. 
It  is  not  enough  to  suffer.     We  must  also  love. 

(4)  The  sense  of  need.  If  we  have  no  great  sense  of  need 
for  ourselves,  we  may  yet  be  conscious  of  the  needs  of  our 
fellow-men.  The  fulness  of  our  need  will  bring  its  response. 
When  there  is  no  great  need,  no  great  results  can  follow.  The 
greater  the  need  and  the  demand,  the  greater  will  be  the  re- 
sponse. 

(5)  The  practice  of  self-discipline.  The  keynote  of  life, 
if  we  would  use  power  wisely,  must  be  pitched  high,  and 
preparation  for  the  right  use  of  spiritual  power  is  of  the  ut- 
most importance.  The  disciplined  mind  and  will  are  necessary 
to  bring  us  rightly  by  perception  and  preparation  to  the  place 
of  prayer,  and  it  is  through  the  disciplined  mind  and  will  that 
we  have  the  character  needed  to  fulfil  that  whereunto  we  are 
guided  through  prayer:  and  guidance  through  prayer,  calling 
as  it  does  for  fulfilment,  and  giving  strength  and  purpose,  is 
necessarily  character-forming.  To  go  forward  in  the  full  con- 
sciousness of  God's  presence  and  guidance,  as  the  result  of 
communion  in  prayer,  gives  a  source  of  power  that  carries  with 
it  the  utmost  responsibility.  The  will,  in  such  circumstances, 
is  not  rightly  a  dominating  power,  but  is  to  be  used  for  a 
deeper  concentration  of  the  attention  so  as  to  free  and  at  the 
same  time  to  direct  the  strength  that  is  in  us  and  that  has  come 
to  be  part  of  our  being  through  our  communion  with  God. 
And  so  the  disciplined  will,  rightly  judged,  is  not  cramping. 
Its  purpose  is  to  give  freedom  —  freedom  to  the  individual 
to  act,  to  realise  and  to  continue  to  realise  in  face  of  opposition,, 
and  to  accomplish  that  which  to  him  appears  to  be  the  highest 
purpose  in  his  life. 

Discipline  does  not  necessarily  mean  the  mortification  of  the 
senses,  but  the  guided  and  controlled  expression  and  use  of 
them  and  of  the  mind.  Consciousness  of  self-control  gives 
confidence  to  a  man  in  his  moral  trials,  just  as  the  knowledge 
that  an  army  is  perfectly  disciplined  gives  assurance  to  the 
commander  that  an  order  will  be  understood  and  carried  into 
effect.  Superimposed  discipline  has  a  purpose  to  serve,  but  it 
does  not  carry  us  very  far  if  it  is  regarded  as  a  barrier  stand- 
ing between  the  individual  and  happiness.  If  the  understand- 
ing can  be  awakened  to  the  purpose  of  discipline,  it  ceases  to 
appear  retaliatory  and  its  difficulties  take  on  the  same  charac- 
ter as  the  greater  and  sterner  trials  that  have  to  be  overcome 


IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS  469 

in  the  life  of  attainment  towards  reality,  and,  if  prayer  can  but 
awaken  the  deeper  consciousness  of  reality  in  the  one  who 
prays  or  in  the  one  prayed  for,  it  is  one  of  the  most  far-reach- 
ing influences  that  can  be  brought  into  life. 

(6)  Character.  Character  and  discipline  are  inseparable, 
but  as  character  includes  discipline  and  is  the  expression  of 
the  whole  man,  it  is  important  that  discipline  should  not  l)e 
valued  as  an  object  in  itself,  but  that  it  should  be  regarded  as 
one  aspect  of  a  many-sided  training  in  the  formation  of  char- 
acter. We  should  always  remember  that  it  is  greatness  of 
character  that  we  are  seeking  to  build,  and  with  that  end  in 
view  we  have  to  gain  control  of  the  senses  so  that  the  pleasures 
and  pains  of  the  senses  may  not  control  us.  We  have  for  the 
same  purpose  to  gain  control  over  the  self,  so  that  we  may  be 
able  to  direct  and  to  control  our  thoughts  and  the  energy  of 
being  that  is  behind  our  thoughts. 

Out  of  life's  activities,  emotions  and  impulses  arise.  The 
greatness  of  these  emotions,  together  with  the  guiding  power 
of  true  inspiration  and  of  the  will,  become  the  measure  of 
character  which,  however,  can  never  be  truly  great  without 
greatness  of  understanding,  greatness  of  love,  and  greatness 
of  reverence.  These  are  the  qualities  that  make  for  greatness 
in  national  life:  they  make  for  greatness  in  prayer,  and  can- 
not be  acquired  otherwise  than  through  the  attitude  of  prayer. 

(7)  Intensity  and  fervour.  Fervour  of  spirit  and  the  heart 
aflame  are  conditions  that  raise  the  consciousness  to  a  better 
realisation  of  God.  The  fervent  spirit,  the  spirit  that  keeps 
aflame  and  burns  to  express  what  has  been  revealed  to  it,  will 
overcome  and  surmount  difficulties  that  to  the  less  ardent 
spirit  would  seem  insurmountable.  By  ferv'our  and  deep  ear- 
nestness the  spirit  is  freed  and  becomes  attuned  to  the  appeal 
and  to  the  inspiration  of  the  greater  spiritual  realities. 
Fervour  in  prayer,  however,  does  not  necessarily  imply  strain : 
it  gives  strength  and  purpose  to  the  conviction  of  the  reality  of 
what  is  sought.  Without  purpose  no  prayer  can  be  real. 
It  attracts  only  by  the  fulness  of  its  need.  There  is  the  hun- 
ger and  the  seeking,  all  that  opens  the  heart  and  soul  to  the 
inflow  of  what  we  ask  from  God.  the  calm  and  the  putting  away 
of  self,  and  by  love  the  emptying  of  the  Self  of  self  that  God 
may  come  and  abide  with  us. 

But  fervour  is  not  always  necessary  to  communion.  To 
a  great  soul  attuned  to  God.  to  all  in  the  supreme  moments 
of  life,  as  at  approaching  death,  when  the  things  that  are  tem- 


470  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

poral  and  physical  recede  before  the  realisation  of  the  presence 
of  the  eternal,  the  veils  are  lifted,  the  presence  is  felt  within, 
and  there  comes  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding,  not 
through  fervour,  but  because  of  the  consciousness  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  Then  a  great  light  will  flood  the  soul,  and  a  love 
that  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things,  a  love  that  never  faileth,  will  give  to  the 
spirit  supreme  power. 

VI.     The  Christ-Consciousness 

The  consideration  of  and  the  attitude  towards  prayer  and 
spiritual  power  have  been  confined  too  closely  to  the  Church, 
and  have  been  spoken  of  too  exclusively  in  the  terms  of  the 
Church.  We  have  been  too  much  inclined  to  exclude  all  these 
things  from  the  daily  round  of  life,  forgetting  that  the  spiritual 
is  everywhere,  that  it  is  behind  every  thought,  in  every  word 
and  action,  ever  waiting  to  help,  to  guide  and  to  strengthen  us, 
if  only  we  will  make  ourselves  receptive  to  its  influence.  We 
do  not  realise  that  the  consciousness  of  its  strength  would  make 
us  for  ever  calm  and  fearless,  at  peace  with  ourselves  and  with 
the  world;  that  it  should  be  the  strength  of  our  everyday  life, 
our  guide  in  every  decision. 

Life  should  be  a  continual  prayer,  a  continual  contact  with 
the  Divine  and  the  spiritual ;  the  consciousness  of  the  Divine 
should  be  a  centre  of  rest  in  every  activity.  The  times  when 
we  are  able  to  retire  from  the  activities  of  life,  to  devote  our 
whole  selves  to  communion  with  the  Divine,  would  not  then 
be  our  only  time  of  contact  with  the  unseen ;  they  would  be  but 
times  of  deeper  contact.  We  should  live  constantly  in  the 
knowledge,  the  strength,  and  the  joy  of  the  Christ-conscious- 
ness, and  nothing  in  life  would  then  be  outside  it. 

This  would  not  in  any  way  relieve  us  from  the  responsibil- 
ities of  life.  It  would  not  mean  a  life  of  ease,  but  rather  a  life 
of  greater  striving  and  purpose,  greater  confidence  and  strength. 
It  would  give  an  assurance  and  a  purpose,  a  deep  peace  and  ten- 
derness, and  a  sense  of  power  that  nothing  else  can  give. 

Few  of  the  writers  seem  to  realise  the  creative  power  of 
prayer.  By  bringing  God  into  manifestation,  prayer  brings 
a  creative  force  into  our  midst  that  we  have  been  slow  to  ap- 
preciate. To  realise  this  and  to  give  ourselves,  our  whole 
selves,  in  all  our  strength,  vitality  and  calm,  to  prayer,  is  to 
open  up  possibilities  of  spiritual  and  bodily  healing  as  yet  only 


IMPRESSIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS  471 

dimly  perceived,  and  possibilities  of  intercession  but  vaguely 
understood. 

We  do  not  sufficiently  understand  the  need  of  calm,  of  the 
definite,  strong,  clear  call  for  succour,  or  of  great  receptivity, 
that  we  may  receive  vision,  guidance,  strength  —  all  the  quali- 
ties needful  to  make  us  conquerors  in  life.  How  many  realise 
the  ever-present  guidance  available  to  us,  or  the  Divine  power 
upon  which  we  can  at  all  times  consciously  rest  ?  We  have  lost 
the  meaning  of  Christ's  words,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always," 
and  evidence  of  the  present-day  reality  of  guidance  and  healing 
is  counted  of  little  moment.  Knowledge  and  conviction  come 
only  with  experience  and  revelation.  It  is  perhaps  right  and 
better  that  it  should  be  so. 

With  the  awakening  consciousness  of  God,  our  real  life  be- 
gins, for  we  are  born  of  the  Eternal  into  an  everlasting  heri- 
tage:  and  when  man  realises  that  his  true  power  is  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  he  will  reach  his  full  stature.  The  dawn 
of  a  new  era  will  l>e  at  hand,  and  to  him  who  can  receive, 
great  things  shall  be  revealed. 

We  cannot  sum  up  the  whole  of  what  has  been  written  bet- 
ter than  in  the  well-know^n  words  of  St.  Augustine :  "  O  God, 
Thou  hast  made  us  for  Thyself,  and  our  hearts  are  restless  till 
they  find  rest  in  Thee." 


XXII 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BY 

The  Rev  W.  C.  FRASER 

EDINBURGH 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
DIVISION  I 

SERVICE  BOOKS;  LITURGIES;  OTHER  SERVICE  BOOKS  (LIT- 
URGICAL); SERVICE  BOOKS  OF  THE  REFORMED 
CHURCHES. 

i.  EASTERN   CHURCH. 

1.  Syrian  and  Byzantine. 

2.  Armenian. 

3.  Egyptian. 

ii.  WESTERN  CHURCH. 

1.  Roman. 

2.  Gallican. 

iii.  REFORMED  CHURCHES. 

1.  German. 

A.  Lutheran. 

B.  Moravian. 

2.  Anglican. 

A.  Church  of  England. 

B.  Church  of  Ireland. 

C.  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland. 

D.  Episcopal  Church  in  America. 

3.  Presbyterian. 

A.  Church  of  Scotland. 

B.  United  Free   Church  of  Scotland. 

C.  English   Presbyterian. 

D.  American  Presbyterian. 

E.  Reformed  Spanish  Church. 

4.  Old   (or  Liberal)    Catholic. 

iv.  OTHER  CHRISTIAN  DENOMINATIONS. 

1.  Congregational  and  Baptist. 

2.  Catholic  Apostolic. 

3.  Swedenborgian. 

4.  Unitarian. 

V.  NON-CHRISTIAN  FORMS  OF  PRAYER. 

1.  Sacred  Books  of  the  East. 

2.  Egyptian,  etc. 

3.  Jewish. 

4.  Theistic. 

5.  Book  of  Prayers,  Baha'u'llah. 

475 


476  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

DIVISION  II 

DEVOTIONAL  FORMS 

i.  PRIVATE, 
ii.  FAMILY, 
iii.  SOCIAL  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL. 

DIVISION  III 
SCIENTIFIC  AND  APOLOGETIC 

DIVISION  IV 
DOCTRINAL  AND   DEVOTIONAL  TREATMENT 

i.  PATRISTIC. 

ii.  MEDIAEVAL. 

iii.  SIXTEENTH,       SEVENTEENTH       AND       EIGHTEENTH 

CENTURIES, 
iv.  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  AND  LATER. 

V.  WORKS  AND  SERMONS  ON  THE  LORD'S  PRAYERS, 
vi.  SOME  SERMONS  ON  PRAYER, 
vii.  PRAYERS  ON  BEHALF  OF  THE  DEAD. 

DIVISION  V 

GENERAL 
(Prayer  of  Silence,  of  Contemplation,  of  Bodily  Healing,  etc.) 

DIVISION  VI 
POETS  ON  PRAYER 

DIVISION  I 
LITURGIES  AND  CHURCH  ORDERS 

Out  of  an  enormous  bibliography  no  more  than  a  very  limited  number 
of  books  useful  to  the  student  can  be  given.  Good  introductions  to  the 
whole  subject  will  be  found  in  Duchesne's  "Christian  Worship" 
(S.P.C.K..  London),  J.  H.  Srawley's  "The  Early  History  of  the  Lit- 
urgies" (Cambridge  Liturgical  Handbooks),  Adrian  Fortesque's  "The 
Mass"  (Longmans,  London),  all  of  which  contain  Bibliographies. 

i.  Eastern  Church 

i.  Syrian  and  Byzantine 

Achelis.  Hans.     Die  Canones  Hippolyti.     (Leipzig,   1891.) 
Cooper.  James,  and  Maclean,  A.  J.     The  Testament  of  our  Lord.     (Edin- 
burgh,  1902.) 
Funk.    Franz    Xaver    von.     Die    Apostolischen    Konstitutionen     (i8qi). 
Das  Testament  unseres  Herrn  und  die  verwandten  Schriften  (igoi). 
Didascalia  et  Constitutiones  Apostolorum. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  477 

Maclean,    Arthur    John,    D.D.    The    Ancient    Church    Orders.     (Cam- 
bridge, 1910.) 
Recent      Discoveries      illustrating      Early      Christian      Worship. 

(S.P.C.K.,  London,  1902.) 
Wordsworth,   John,   D.D.    The    Prayer   Book   of    Serapion.     (S.P.C.K., 

London).     The  earliest  known  Liturgy. 
Migne,  The  Abbe.     Patrologia  Graeca. 
Warren,  F.  E.,  B.D.,     The  Liturgy  and  Ritual  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Church, 

(S.P.C.K..   London,   i8q7.) 
McClure,    E..    and    Feltoe,    C.    L.     The    Pilgrimage    of    "  Etheria "    (or 

"Silvia.")      (S.P.C.K.,  London.) 
Hammond,    C.    E.,    M.A.     Liturgies,    Eastern    and    Western.     Greek    and 

Latin  Texts.     (Oxford,   1878.) 
Brightman,  F.  E..  M.A.     Liturgies,  Eastern  and  Western,  vol.  i.,  Eastern 

Liturgies.     (Oxford,  i8q6.) 
Roberts.     Alkx.,     D.D.,     and     Donaldson,     Tames.     LL.D.     Ante-Nicene 

Christian  Library,  vol.  24.     (T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh,  1883.) 
Swainson,  C.  a.,  D.D.     The  Greek  Liturgies.     Chiefly  drawn  from  orig- 
inal  authorities.     (Cambridge   University   Press,    1884.) 
Littledale,    Richard   Frederick,    M.A.,    D.D.     Offices    from   the    Service- 

Books     of     the     Holy     Eastern     Church.     (Greek     and     English.) 

(Williams  &  Norgate,  London,  186.3.) 
Shann,  G.  V.     Book  of  Needs  of  the  Holy  Orthodox  Church,  with  an 

Appendix  containing  Offices  for  the  Laying  on  of  Hands.     (David 

Nutt,  London,  1894.) 
The  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  G.reek  Church  in  Russia.     (London, 

1772.) 
The  Divine  Liturgy  of  St.  John  Chrvsostom    (Greek  and   English  as 

used  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Wisdom,  London.)      (Williams  & 

Norgate,  London,   1914.) 
The  Liturgies  of  SS.  Mark,  James,  Clement,  Chrysostom,  and  Basil, 

and  the  Church   of  Malabar,   translated,   with   Introduction   and 

Appendices,   by  the   Rev.   J.   M.    Neale,   D.D..    and  the   Rev.   R.   F. 

Littledale,  LL.D.     (J.   T.   Hayes.  London,    1869.) 

2.  Armenian 

FoRTESQUE,   R    F.   K.    The   Armenian  Church,    founded   by   St.   Gregory 

the    Illuminator,   being   a   sketch    of   the   ancient    National    Church. 

(J.  T.  Hayes,  London.) 
Conybeare,  F.  C,  M.A.,  and  Maclean.  A.  J.,  D.D.     Rituale  Armenorum. 

(Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1905.) 
Maclean,  Arthur  John,  D.D.     East  Syrian  Daily  Offices.     (Rivington  & 

Co.,  London,  1894.) 

3.  Egyptian 

See  Brightman,  Liturgies,  p.  112.     (Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1894.) 

ii.  Western  Church 

I.  Roman 

Migne.  The  Abbe.     Patrologia  Latina. 

Cabrol,     Fernand,     and     Leclercq,     Henricus.     Monumenta     Ecclesiae 

Liturgica.     (1900-2.) 
Atchley.  Cuthrert.     Ordo  Romanus   Primus.     (Library  of  Liturgiology 

and  Ecclesiology,  vol.  vi.,  1905.) 
Feltoe,    C.    L.     Sacramentum    Leonianum.     (Cambridge,    1896.) 
Wilson,  H.  A.     The  Gelasian  Sacramentary.     (Oxford,   1894.) 


478  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

A  classified  Index  to  the  Leonine,  Gelasian,  and  Gregorian  Sacra- 

mentaries.     (Cambridge,   1892.) 

Ordines  Romani  (XV.),  in  Mabillon  Musaeum. 

MissALE  RoMANUM  ex  decreto  SS.  concilii  Tridentis  restitutum,  S.  Pii 
V.  Pont.  Mar,  jussu  editum,  Clementis  VII.,  Urbani  VII.  et  Leonis 
XIII  auctoritate  recognitum.     (The  Roman  liturgy  now  in  use.) 

2.  Gallican 

Neale,  J.   M.,    M.A.,  and  Forbes,   G.   H.     The  Ancient  Liturgies   of  the 

Gallican  Church,  now  first  collected.     Latin  Text.     (Burntisland,  at 

the  Pitsligo  Press,   1855.) 
Warren,  F.  E.,  B.D.     The  Liturgy  and  Ritual  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Church. 

(S.P.C.K.,  London,  1897.) 
Atchley,  Cuthbert.     Ambrosian  Liturgy.     The  Ordinary  and  Canon  of 

the  Mass,  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of   Milan.     (Cope 

and  Fen  wick,  London,  iQog.) 
For   other    Service   Books    (Liturgical),    see   Alcuin    Club    Publications 
(Longmans,  London)   and  Henry  Bradshaw  Society  for  the  editing  of 
rare  liturgical  tracts.     (London,  i8gi.) 

These  Societies  print  the  texts  of  many  MSS.  of  Missals,  Breviaries 
and  Pontificals,  etc. 

iii.  Reformed  Churches 

The  Reformed  Churches  generally  allow,  but  do  not,  except  in  the  case 
of  the  Anglican,  require  the  use  of  a  Liturgy. 

I.  German 

A.  Lutheran 

In   1523,   Luther   published   a  treatise  —  Of  the   Order  of  the   Service  of 

the  Congregation. 
In  1526,  he  published  The  German  Mass. 

(Except  that  the  vernacular  was  substituted  for  the  Latin  Missal,  the 
order  of   the   Roman   Missal   was   closely  followed.)     The  text  of 
this  and  other  Lutheran  Services  is  given  in  — 
Agende  fur  Christliche  Gemeinden  des  luthertschen  Bekenntnisses. 
(Nordlingen,  1853.) 
Many   Lutheran   Church    Service   Books    were    issued   in   the    sixteenth 
century    (Church   Orders).     (Brandenburg.   Nuremberg,   Calenberg,   etc.). 
In  1822,  on  the  union  of  the  Refomed  (Calvinistic)  Churches  of  Prussia, 
a  new  Liturgy  was  published  in  Berlin. 

See  The  Rev.  F.  E.  Warren,  B.D.,  in  article  "  Liturgy  "  in  the  Encyclo- 
paedia Briiannica,  and  Bishop  Dowdens  "  Further  Studies  in  the  Prayer 
Book."     (Methuen,  London.) 

B.  Moravian 

Liturgy  and  Hymns  for  the  use  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  the 
United  Brethren  or  Unitas  Fratrum  (Moravians).  (Fetter  Lane, 
London,  1862.) 

2.  Anglican 
A.  Church  of  England 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments, 

T.i;4Q.     First  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI. 
The  Book  of  Common  Prayfr  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments, 

1552.     Second  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  479 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments, 

1559.     The   Prayer  Book  of   Elizabeth. 
The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments, 

1662  (service  book  now  in  use).  The  Prayer  Book  of  Charles  II. 
See  Brightman,  "The  English  Rite,"  2  vols.  (Rivingtons.  London, 
1915),  and  Procter  and  Frere,  "A  New  History  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer"  (Macmillan,  London,  iqoi).  The  English  Convocations  have 
revised  the  edition  of  1662;  the  additions  and  alterations  will  be  for  a 
period  optional  and  not  obligatory. 

B.  Church  of  Ireland 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  (various 
editions). 

C.  The  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland 

The    Scottish     Liturgy,    1912.     (Authorised    for    use    in    the    Scottish 
Episcopal  Church,  but  not  obligatory.) 
See  Dowden,  Bp.  J.,  D.D.,  "  The  Annotated  Scottish  Communion  Office," 

1884,  and  Perry,  Canon  VV.,  D.D.,  "The  Scottish  Liturgy:  Its  Value  and 

History,"  1918. 

The  Prayer  Book  (Scotland).  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  of  1662 
(with  permissible  additions  and  deviations  from  the  English  book  as 
authorized  by  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church).  This  book  contains 
also  the  Scottish  Liturgy.  The  Scottish  Office  of  Communion  is 
held  by  many  to  be  more  true  to  the  ancient  liturgical  order  than 
the  English  in  any  of  its  forms. 

D.  The  Episcopal  Church   in  America 

In  1784,  for  political  reasons,  the  Bishop  Elect  of  Connecticut  was  conse- 
crated in  Aberdeen  by  Scottish  Bishops.  He  therefore  agreed  to 
advance  the  use  of  the  Scottish  Office  in  America,  and  the  .American 
Communion  Service,  as  now  used,  is  modelled  on  the  Scottish  form. 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments 
and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  according  to  the  use 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
(1885.) 

The  Genesis  of  the  American  Prayer  Book.  A  Survey  of  the  Origin 
and  Development  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  Rt.  Rev.  A. 
Cleveland  Co.xe,  D.D.,  LL.D. ;  Rt.  Rev.  George  F.  Seyman,  D.D., 
LL.D. ;  Rt.  Rev.  William  Stevens  Perry,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L. ;  and 
Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Crosswell  Doane,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (James  Pott  &  Co., 
New  York,   1893.) 

Gwynne,   W.     Primitive   Worship   and    the    Prayer   Book    (Rationale   of 
English,   Irish,   Scottish,  and  American  books).     (Longmans,   Lon- 
don, 1918.) 
The  Episcopal   Churches   in    Australia,   Canada,   etc.,   use   the   Anglican 

Service,  with  local  modifications. 

3.  Presbyterian 

A.  Church  of  Scotland 

The  Directory  of  Public  Worship,  published  in  1645,  is  not  a  prescribed 
form  of  prayer,  but  gives  directions  for  the  conduct  of  public 
worship  under  general  heads,  leaving  the  rest  to  the  minister. 

"  The  minister  useth  this  confession  following,  or  lyke  in  effect " 
(John  Knox's  Liturgy,  p.  91^- 

The  Forms  of  Prayer  and  Ministrations  of  the  Sacraments,  etc.,  used 
in  the   English   Church  at  Geneva,   approved  and   received  by  the 


48o  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Church  of  Scotland.     "  Whereunto  besydes  that  was  in  the  former 

Bookes    are    also    added    sundrie    other    prayers,    with    the    whole 

Psalms   of   David   in   English   metre."     (Printed   at   Edinburgh    by 

Robert  Lekprevik,  1564.) 
Cooper,  James,  D.D.     The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  commonly  known  as 

Laud's  Liturgy  (1637.)      (Wm.  Blackwood  &  Son,  Edinburgh,  1904.) 
EucHOLOGiAN,  A  BooK  OF  Prayers  ;   being  Forms  of  Worship  issued  by 

the    Church    Service    Society,     (ist   ed.,   Edinburgh,    1867;   2nd  ed., 

1869;  9th  ed.,  Blackwood,  Edinburgh,  1913-) 
Lee,  Robert,  D.D.     The  Order  of  Public  Worship  and  Administration  of 

the  Sacraments.     (James  Stillie,  Edinburgh.) 
Leishman,  Thomas,  D.D.     The  Westminster  Directory.     (Blackwood  & 

Sons,  Edinburgh.) 
Sprott,   G.   W.,   D.D.     The   Book  of   Common  Order   of   the   Church   of 

Scotland,  commonly  known  as  John  Knox's  Liturgy.     (Edinburgh, 

1901.) 
Scottish    Liturgies    of    the    Reign    of   James    VL     (Edmonston    & 

Douglas,  Edinburgh,   1871.) 
Cameron  Lees,  J.,  D.D.     St.  Giles'  Prayer  Book.     (Edinburgh,   1894.) 

B.  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland 

Anthology  of  Prayer  for  Public  Worship,  issued  by  the  Church  Wor- 
ship Association  of  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  (Mac- 
niven  &  Wallace,  Edinburgh,  1907.) 

A  New  Directory  for  the  Public  Worship  of  God,  founded  on  the  Book 
of  Common  Order  (1560-64),  and  the  Westminster  Directory 
(1643-45),  and  prepared  by  the  "Public  Worship  Association"  in 
connection  with  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  .(Macniven  &  Wal- 
lace, Edinburgh,   1898.) 

C.  English  Presbyterian 

Directory  for  the  Public  Worship  of  God,  on  the  basis  of  that  agreed 
upon  by  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at  Westminster,  a.  d.  1644.  (Lon- 
don,   1898.) 

D.  American  Presbyterian 

The  Directory  of  Worship  for  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United 

States.     (Daniel  Miller,  Reading,  Pa.,  1884.) 
The  Liturgy  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America,  together  with  the 

Book  of  Psalms  for  use  in  Public  Worship.     (Board  of  Publication 

R.C.A.,  New  York,  1883.) 
Shields,  Charles  W.,   D.D.  LL.D.     The  Book  of   Common   Prayer  and 

Administration  of  the  Sacraments  and  other  rites  and  ceremonies 

of  the   Church,   etc.     The   Directory   for    Public   Worship   and   the 

Book  of  Common  Prayer  considered  with  reference  to  the  question 

of  a  Presbyterian  Liturgy.     (Philadelphia,   1865.) 

E.  Reformed  Spanish  Church 

The  Revised  Prayer  Book  of  the  Reformed  Spanish  Church.  (Alex. 
Thom  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  Dublin,  1894.  Eyre  &  Spottiswoode,  London, 
Edinburgh  and  New  York.) 

4.  Old  and  Liberal  Catholic 

The  Offices  of  the  Old  Catholic  Prayer  Book.     (James  Parker  &  Co., 

Oxford  and  London.   1876.) 
The  Liturgy  according  to  the  use  of  the  Liberal  Cathot^ic  Church 

(Old  Catholic),     (The  St.  Alban  Press,  London,  1919.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  481 

iv.  Other  Christian  Denominations 
I.  Congregational  and  Baptist 

Orchard,  W.  E.,  D.D.     A  New  Liturgy  for  use  in  Free  Churches:     The 

Order  of  Divine  Service  for  Public   Worship.     (Oxford   University 

Press,  London,   1919.) 
,  The   Temple.     A    Book   of    Prayers.     (J.    M.    Dent   &    Sons,   Ltd., 

London,  1913.) 
Dawson,  George,  M.A.     Prayers  with  a  Discourse  on  Prayer.     (C.  Kegan 

Paul  &  Co.,  London,  1878.) 

2.  Catholic  Apostolic 

Pitman,  Geo.  J.  W.  The  Liturgy  and  other  Divine  Offices  of  the  Church. 
(London,  1900.) 

3.  Szvedenborgian 

Liturgy  for  the  New  Church,  signified  by  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the 
Revelation.  (Published  for  the  General  Conference  of  the  New 
Church,  London,  1907.) 

4.  Unitarian 

Prieslety,  Joseph.    Forms   of  Prayer  and  other  offices   for  the  use  of 

Unitarian  Societies. 
Jones,  R.  Crompton.     A  Book  of  Prayer  in  Thirty  Orders  of  Worship. 

(Williams  and  Norgate,  London,  1878.) 
Martineau,  James,  D.D.,  LL.D.     Home  Prayers,  with  Two  Services  for 

Public  Worship.     (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  London.) 

V.  Non-Christian  Forms  of  Prayer 
I.  Sacred  Books  of  the  East 

The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  translated  by  various  Oriental  Scholars 
and  edited  by  F.  Max  Miiller.  50  volumes.  (At  the  Clarendon 
Press,  Oxford,  1879-1910.) 

Winternitz,  AL  A  General  Index  to  the  names  and  subject-matter  of  the 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East.     See  "  Prayers,"  pp.  436-446. 

2.  Egyptian,  etc. 

Budge,  E.  Wallis,  M.A.,  Litt.D.  Books  on  Egypt  and  Chaldea.  (Kegan 
Paul,  Tri'ibner  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  London,  1909.)  (Contains  forms  of 
prayer,  etc.) 

3.  Jewish 

Singer,   S.     The  Authorised   Daily  Prayer  Book  of   the   United   Hebrew 

Congregation  of  the  British  Empire.     (London,   1908.) 
The  Forms  of  Prayers  Vol  L     For  the  New  Year;  Vol.  H.     For  the  Day 

of  Atonement;  Vol.  HL     For  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles;  Vol.  IV. 

For  the  Feast  of  Passover;  Vol.  V.     For  the  Feast  of  Pentecost. 

According   to   the   custom   of    the   German   and    Polish   Jews,   with 

an    English    translation,    carefully    revised    by    R.    Vulture.     (Jos. 

Schlesinger,  Vienna.) 
Daily    Prayers   with   English   Illustrations.     (P.   Vallentyne   &   Son, 

London,  1905.) 

4.  Theistic 

Voysey,  Rev.  Charles,  B.A.  Revised  Prayer  Book.  (Williams  &  Nor- 
gate, London,  1892.) 


482  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

5'.  Book  of  Prayers,  Baha'u'llah 

Baha'u'llah  and,  Abdul  Baha.  Book  of  Prayers  revealed  by  Baha'u'llah 
and  Abdul  Baha.     (Bahai  Publishing  Society,  Chicago.) 

DIVISION  II 
DEVOTIONAL  FORMS 

Andrewes,     Lancelot      (1555-1626),     Bishop     of     Winchester.     Preces 

Privatae.     Edited  by  A.  E.  Burns,  D.D.     (Methuen,  London,  1908.) 
Andrewes.  Lancelot,  and  his   Private  Devotions.    Edited  by  the  Rev. 

Alex.    Whyte,    D.D.     (Oliphant,    Anderson    &    Ferrier,    Edmburgh, 

1896.) 
Bogatsky,  C.  H.  V.     A  Golden  Treasury.     (T.  Nelson  &  Sons,  London, 

Edinburgh,  and  New  York,  1858.) 
Carpenter,    Bishop    Boyd.    The    Communion    of    Prayer.     A    manual    of 

Private  Prayers  and    Devotions.     (Jarrold  &  Sons,  London,  1910.) 
Fox^    Selina    F.,    M.D.     a    Chain    of    Prayers    across    the    Ages.     Forty 

Centuries  of  Prayer,  2,000  b.  c.-a.  d.  1915.     (Murray,  London,  1913 

and  1915-) 
Hodgson,  Geraldine  E.,  D.Litt.    Early  English  Instructions  and  Devotions 

rendered  into  modern  English.     (J.  M.  Watkins,  London,  1913.) 
Our  Lady's   Primer.     Devotions  and  Practice  composed  for  Lady  Lucy, 

an  English  Nun  in  Ghent. 
Plummer,   C.     Devotions    from  ancient   and  mediaeval   sources.     (R.   H. 

Blackwell,  Oxford,  1916.) 
PusEY,   E.    B.,    D.D.     Prayers,    Penitence,    Holy    Communion.     (Gathered 

from   unpublished  MSS.)     (Mowbray,   Oxford,    1883.) 
A  Book  of  Contemplation,  the  which  is  called  The  Cloud  of  Unknowing, 

in   the   which  a   Soul   is   one   with   God.     Edited    from  the   British 

Museum  MS.  Harl.  674,  with  an  Introduction  by  Evelyn  Underbill. 

(J.  M.  Watkins,  London,  1912.) 
Taylor,  Jeremy,  D.D.     (1613-1667).     Holy  Living  and   Dying:   together 

with  Prayers  containing  the  whole  duty  of  a  Christian,  etc.     (Grif- 
fith, Farran  &  Co.,  London,  1885.) 
The   Golden   Grove.    A   choice   manual   containing  what  is   to   be 

believed,    practised,    and    desir'd    or    pray'd    for.     (Printed    by    J. 

Grover,   for   R.   Royston,  London,    1677;   J.   Parker  &  Co.,   Oxford 

and  London,  1868.) 
Tileson,    M.     W.     Great    Souls     at     Prayer.     (H.     R.     Allenson,     Ltd., 

London.) 
Watt,  L.  Maclean.    By  Still  Waters.    A  Book  of  Prayer.     (Blackwood, 

Edinburgh,   1904.) 
Wilson,  Right  Rev.  Thomas,  D.D.     Sacra  Privata.     (John  Henry  Parker, 

Oxford  and  London,  1854.) 
Note. —  The  Rev  Anthony  C.  Deane  gives  carefully  considered  advice 
on  the  choice  of  devotional  books  in  "  A  Library  of  Religion."     (A.  R. 
Mowbray  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  London,  1918.) 

Methuen's  "  Library  of  Devotion "  contains  many  excellent  Devotional 
Works,  as  does  also  H.  R.  Allenson's  "  Sanctuary  Series." 

ii.  Family 

Garbett,  Rev.  Canon,  M.A.,  and  Rev.  S.  Martin.  The  Family  Prayer 
Book.     (Cassell  &  Co.,  London.) 

Garvie,  Alfred  E.,  D.D.,  and  Nightingale,  B.  The  Altar  in  the  Home. 
(Congregational  Union  of  England  and  Wales  Incorporated  Pub- 
lication Department,  London,    1919.) 

Gladstone,  W.  E.  A  Manual  of  Prayer  from  the  Liturgy,  arranged  for 
family  use.     (John  Murray,  London,  1899.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  483 

Henry,   Matthew    (1662-1714).    A    Method   of    Prayer,    wfth    Scripture 

Expressions  proper  to  be  used  under  each  head.     (London,   1721.) 
Lee,  Rouekt,  D.D.     I'rayers  for  Family  Worship,  with  occasional  Prayers 

for  Individuals.     (Hamilton,  Adams  &  Co.,  London  and  Edinburgh, 

iSbi.) 
Oxenden.  Most  Rev.  Ashton,  D.D.,  and  Ramsden.  Rev.  C.  H.    Family 

Prayers  for  Fight  Weeks.     (Hatchards,  London,  1877.) 
PiTCAiRN.  Rev.  VV.  F.     Family  and  other  Prayers.     (Uavid  Adam,  New- 

castle-on-Tyne.) 
Prayer,  Services  of,  for  Social  and  Family  Worship.     (Wm.  Blackwood 

&  Sons.     Edinburgh,    1859.) 
Prayers,  Family,  prepared  by  a  Special  Committee  and  authorised  by  the 

General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.     (Wm.  Blackwood  & 

Sons,  Edinburgh  and  London,   1870.) 
Prayers  for  the  Christian  Home.     Published  by  authority  of   Publica- 
tion   Committee,     United    F'ree    Church.     (Oliphant,    Anderson    & 

Ferrier,  Edinburgh,   1901.) 
Prayers,    Home.     (Suspiria    Domestica).     By    Members    of    the    Church 

Service  Society.     Professors  William  Knight  and  Allan  Menzies,  St. 

Andrews  University.     (Edinburgh,  1879.) 
Prayers,  One  Hundred  Short.     (Wm.  Blackwood  &  Sons,  Edinburgh.) 
Prayers,     Spiritual,    from     many     Shrines.     (The     Power-Book    Co., 

London.) 
Stevenson,    Robert    Louis.     Prayers,    written    at    Vailima.     (Chatto    & 

Windus,   London,   1905.) 
Thornton,  Henry,  M.P.     Family  Prayers.     (Hatchard,  London,  1854.) 
VoYSEY,  Charles.     Prayers  and  Meditations  for  Family  and  Private  use. 

(William  &  Norgate,  London,  1892.) 
Walker,  the  Rev.  George,  D.D.,  Minister  of  Kinnell.     (In  whose  memory 

the  Walker  Trust  was  founded.)     Prayers  and  Hymns  for  Morn- 
ing and  Evening  and  other  Times  and  Occasions.     (Wm.  P.  Nimmo, 

Edinburgh,    1866.) 
Watson,  the  Rev.  Charles,  D.D.,  ^Minister  of  Burntisland.     Prayers  for 

the   Use   of   Families.     (William   Whyte   and   Co.,    Edinburgh,   and 

James  Duncan,  London,  18.32.) 

iii.     Social  and  Ecclesiastical 

Benson,    Robert    Hugh     (Edited    by).     Prayers:     Public    and     Private. 

Being  orders   and    forms  of  public  services,  private  devotions  and 

hymns,    compiled,    written,    or    translated    by    the    late    Most    Rev. 

Edward  White  Benson.     (Sir  Isaac  Pitman  &  Sons,  London.) 
Benson,   R.    M.     Manual    of    Intercessory    Prayer.     (Longmans,    London, 

1902.) 
Dearmer,  Percy,  D.D.     The  Art  of  Public  Worship.     (Mowbray,  London, 

1919.) 
Frere,  Wm.  H.,  and  Illingworth,  J.  R.     Sursum  Corda,  a  hand-book  of 

intercession    and    thanksgiving.     (Mowbray,    London,    1905-) 
Hospital   Prayers.     By  the  Bishop  of   Durham,  Canon   Gouldsmith,  Dr. 

Alex.    Whyte,    Dr.    R.    F.    Horton,    Dr.    F.    B.    Meyer    and    others. 

(Marshall  Bros.,  Ltd.,  London,  Edinburgh,  and  New  York.) 
Ken,  Bishop  Thomas.     Manual  of  Prayer,  for  the  use  of  the  scholars  of 

Winchester  College. 
Robinson.  W.  P.     Daily  Services  for  the  use  of  Public  Schools.     (Grant 

&  Son,  Edinburgh,  1897.) 
Small,  Annie  H.     An  Act  of  Prayer.     (The  lona  Books,  T.  N.  Foulis, 

London  and  Edinburgh,   1912.) 
Sunday    Afternoon    Prayers,    collected    from    "The    British    Weekly." 

(Hodder  &  Stoughton,  London,  1901.) 
The  Priests'  Prayer  Book.    By  the  Rev.  R.  F.  Littledale,  D.D.,  D.C.L., 


484  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

and  the  Rev.  J.   Edward  Vaux,  M.A.,  F.S.A.     (Longmans,  Green 
&  Co.,  London,  1902.)  ^ 


DIVISION  III 

SCIENTIFIC  AND  APOLOGETIC  (iqth  Century  and  Later) 

Argyll,  Duke  of.     The  Reign  of  Law.     (London,   1867.) 

Anderson,  G.     Science  and  Trayer  and  other  Papers.     (London,  1915.) 

BiEDERwoLF,  W.  E.     How  Can  God  Answer  Prayer?'     Being  an  exhaustive 

treatise  on  the  nature,  conditions  and  dilficulties  of  prayer.     (F.  H. 

Revell  Co.,  New  York,  1913.) 
Calderwood,    Henry,    LL.D.     The    Relations    of    Science    and    Religion. 

(Macmillan  &  Co.,  London,  1880.) 
Carpenter,    Bishop    Boyd.     Thoughts    on    Prayer.     (AUenson,    London, 

1904.) 
Chalmers,  Thomas,  D.D.,  LL.D.     The  Works  of  Thomas  Chalmers,  D.D., 

LL.D.,    vol    ii.,    on    Natural    Theology.     (Wm.    Collins,    Glasgow, 

1836-42.) 
On  the  Consistency  between  the  Efficacy  of  Prayer  and  the  Uni- 
formity of  Nature,  vol.  vii.     (Hodder  &  Stoughton,  London,  1888.) 
Concerning   Prayer,  its   Nature,  its   Difficuties,  and  its  Value.     By 

the  author  of  "  Pro  Christo  et  Ecclesia,"  Harold  Anson,  Leonard 

Hodgson,   C.  H.  S.   Matthews,  Edwin  Bevan,   Rufus   M.  Jones,   N. 

Micklem,  R.  G.  Collingwood,  W.  F.  Lofthouse,  A.  C.  Turner,  and 

B.  H.  Streeter.     (Macmillan,  London,  1916.) 
Gore,  Bp.,  D.D.     Lux  Mundi.     (15th  ed.,  Murray,  London,  1904.) 
Hastings,  James,  D.D.     Christian  Doctrine  of  Prayer.     (T.  &  T.  Clark, 

Edinburgh,  1915.) 
Hitchcock,  F.  R.  M.    The  Present  Controversy  on  Prayer.     (S.P.C.K., 

London,   1909.) 
Hooker,  Richard.     Of  the  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity.     Book  V.     Edited 

by    the    Rev.    Ronald    Bayne,    M.A.     English    Theological    Library. 

(Macmillan,  London,   1902.) 
Jellet,  J.  H.     The  Efficacy  of   Prayer.     (Macmillan,  London,    1878.) 
Oliphant,  Laurence.     Scientific  Religion  or  Higher  Possibilities  of  Life 

and    Practice    through    the    Operation    of    Natural    Forces.     (Wm. 

Blackwood  &  Sons,  Edinburgh  and  London,  1888.) 
Robinson,  A.  W.,  D.D.     Prayer  in  Relation  to  the  Idea  of  Law.     (Cam- 
bridge Theological  Essays,  Macmillan,  London,    1905.) 
Romanes,  George  J.,  LL.D.     Christian  Prayer  and  General  Laws.     With 

an  Appendix  "The  Physical  Effect  of  Prayer."     (Macmillan,  London, 

1874.) 
RusKiN,  John.    On  the  Old   Road,   vol.   iii.,  containing:     Notes  on  the 

Construction  of  Sheepfolds,  The  Nature  and  Authority  of  Miracle, 

An  Oxford  Lecture,  The  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Church.     (George 

Allen,  London.) 
Tyndall,   John,   F.R.S.     Fragments   of    Science:     A    Series   of   detached 

Essays,  Addresses  and  Reviews.     (Longmans,  London,   1898.) 
WoRLLEDGE.    Chancellor    Arthur    John.     Prayer.     (Longmans,    London, 

1902.) 

Discussions  in  the  Reviews 

Galton,  F.  Statistical  Inquiries  concerning  Efficacy  of  Prayer.  (Fort- 
nightly Review,  1872.) 

Littledale,  Rev.  Richard  F.,  D'.C.L.  (Contemporary  Review,  1872,  vol. 
XX.  pp.  430-.'^4.) 

Tyndall,  Prof.    The  "Prayer  for  the  Sick";  Hmts  towards  a  Serious 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  485 

Attempt  to  Estimate  its  Value.     (Contemporary  Review,   1872,  vol. 
XX.  pp.  205-10.) 
Tyndall,  Prof.     On   Prayer.     (Contemporary.  Review,   1872,  pp.  763-6.) 

Author    of    Hints    towards    a    Serious    Attempt    to    Estimate    the 

Value  of    Prayer   for   the   Sick.     (Contemporary    Review,    1872,   pp. 

M'CosH.  James.  D.D.     (Contemporary  Review,  1872,  pp.  777-79,2.) 

Knight,  Rev.  William.  The  Function  of  Prayer  in  the  Economy  of  the 
Universe.     (Contemporary  Review,  1873,  vol.  xxi.  pp.   183-98.) 

Argyll,  Duke  of.  Prayer,  the  Two  Spheres  —  Are  They  Two?  (Con- 
temporary Review,  1873,  vol.  xxi,  pp.  464-73.) 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver.  The  Outstanding  Controversy  between  Science  and 
Faith.     (Hibhert  Journal,  No.  i,  1902.) 

The  Reconciliation  between  Science  and  Faith.     (Hil)bcrt  Journal, 

No.   2.) 

Law,  Rev.  R.  H.,  M.A.  Prayer  and  Natural  Law.  (Hibbert  Journal, 
vol.  17,  July  igig) 

DIVISION  IV 
DOCTRINAL  AND  DEVOTIONAL  TREATMENT 

i.    Patristic 

Augustine,  Saint.  The  Confessions.  (First  nine  Books.)  (Methuen's 
Library  of  Devotion,  London,  i8q8.) 

Butler,  Cuthbert,  Abbot  of  Downside.  Benedictine  Monachism.  Espe- 
cially ch.  vi.-viii.  on  Prayer  and  Contemplation.  (Longman,  Lon- 
don.  1919.) 

Cassian,  John.  Opera  Omnia.  (Migne,  Pat.  Lat.)  English  translation 
in  Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers,  2nd  series, 
vol.  ii.     (Oxford,  1894.) 

Cyprian.  On  the  Lord's  Prayer.  (De  Oratione  Dominica).  (Migne, 
Pat.  Lat.)  English  translation.  Ant<*-Nicene  Christian  Library. 
(T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh.)  An  English  translation,  with  Intro- 
duction by  T.  Herbert  Brindley,  M.A.,  D.D.  Early  Church  Classics. 
(S.P.C.K.,  London,  1904.) 

Origen.  On  Prayer.  (De  Oratione  Dominica.)  (Migne,  Pat.  Lat.) 
English  translation.  Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library.  (T.  81  T. 
Clark,  Edinburgh.) 

Roberts,  A.,  and  Donaldson.  J.  Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library,  vols. 
1-24,  and  an  additional  vol.     2^  vols.     (T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh, 

1867^7.) 
Tertullian.     On   Prayer.     (De   Oratione.)      (Migne.  Pat.  Lat.)     English 
translation.     Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library.     (T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edin- 
burgh, 1869.) 

ii.  Mediaeval 

Aquinas,  Saint  Thomas.  Summa  Theologica  diligenter  emendata. 
Nicolai.  Sylvii,  Billurat  et  C.  J.  Drioux  notis  ornata.  8  vols. 
Paris,  1880.) 

Summa  contra  Gentiles.     (Paris,  1877.) 

• Translations: — 

Compendium  of  the  Summa  Theologica.  Pars  Prima.  Bv  B. 
Bonioannes.  translated  by  R.  R.  Carlo  Falcini,  and  revised  by 
Father  VV.  Lescher.     (Burns  &  Oates.  London,   1902.) 

Aquinas  Ethicus:  Moral  teachings  of  St.  Thomas.     Translation  of 
the  princinal  portion  of  Part  IT.  of  Summa  Theologica,  by  Father 
Rirkabv.  S.  J.     2  vols.     (London,  1892.) 
Of   Ciod   and   His    Creatures.    An   annotated    translation    of   the 


486 


THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 


"  Summa   Contra   Gentiles"   by    Father    Rickaby,    S.    J.     (Burns    & 

Oates,  London,   1905.) 
On  Prayer  and  the  Contemplative  Life.     Translated  by  the  Very 

Rev.  Hugh  Pope.     (Washbourne,  London,   1913.) 
Angela  of  Foligno.   Blessed.     The   Book  of   Divine  Consolation  of   the 

Blessed    Angela    of    Foligno.     (New    Mediaeval    Library,    London, 

1908.) 
Bernard,  Saint.     On  loving  God.     (Caldey  Abbey,  Tenby,  1909.) 
Francis    of    Assist.    Saint.     The    Writings    of    Saint    Francis    of    Assisi. 

Nevirly  translated,  with  an  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  Fr.  Parchal 

Robinson,  O.M.F.     (J.  M.  Dent  &  Co.,  London,  igo8.) 
Juliana  of  Norwich.     Revelations  of  Divine  Love,  recorded  by  Juliana, 

Anchoress    at    Norwich,    a.  d.    1373.     Edited    by    Grace    Warwick. 

(Methuen  &  Co.,  London,   191 1.) 
Neander,  Augustus,  Dr.     Memorials  of  Christian  Life  in  the  Early  and 

Middle  Ages,  including  his  Light  in  Dark  Places,  translated  from 

the  German  by  J.  E.  Ryland.     (Henry  G.  Bohn,  London,  1852.) 
Peter  of  Alcantara,  Saint.     A  Golden  Treatise  of  Mental  Prayer.     (A. 

R.  Mowbray,  London,  1905.) 
Teresa,  Saint.     The  Book  of  the  Foundations  of  Saint  Teresa  of  Jesus, 

written  by  herself.     Translated  by  D.  Lewis.     (T.  Baker,  London, 

1913-) 

iii.  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries 

Alphonso    Maria    de   Liguori,    Saint.     Works    of,    in    English.    22    vols. 

(New  York,  1887-95.) 
Alphonso  Maria  de  Liguori,  Saint.     On  Prayer,  as  the  Great  Means  of 

obtaining   Salvation   and  all   the   Graces  which   we  desire  of   God. 

(Burns    &    Oates,    Ltd.,    London.     Catholic    Publication    Co.,    New 

York.) 
Brooks,  Thomas   (1608-1680.)     The  Complete  Works  of  Thomas  Brooks. 

Edited    with    Memoir    by    A.    B.    Grosart.    6    vols.     (Edinburgh, 

1866-67.) 
Calvin,  John.     Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion.     (Basel,  1536.) 
Tracts.     Forms  of   Prayer  and  Catechism  explaining  doctrine  of 

Prayer,  vol.  ii.     (Calvin  Translation  Society,  Edinburgh,  1849.) 
Catherine  of  Siena,  Saint.     The  Divine  Dialogue  of  Saint  Catherine  of 

Siena.    Translated  by  Algar  Thorold.     (Kegan  Paul,  London,  1896.) 
Le  Chevalier  de  .     Sentimental  and  Practical  Theology.     From  the 

French.     (Printed   for  J.   Wilkie,    St.   Paul's   Churchyard,   London, 

1787.) 
Francis  de  Sales,  Saint.    Introduction  to  the  Devout  Life.     (Methuen, 

Library  of  Devotion,  London,  1906.) 
GuYON.   Madame.     A   Short   Method   of    Prayer,   and    Spiritual   Torrents. 

Translated  by  A.  W.  Marston.     (Sampson  Low,  London.  1875.) 
Henry.     Matthew     (1662-1714).     Daily     Communion     with     God.     The 

Promises    of    God.     The    Worth   of    the    Soul.     A    Church    in    the 

House.     (Thos.  Nelson.  London,  1847.) 
HuRSTius,  Rev.  J.  M.     The  Paradise  of  the  Soul.     Containing  the  neces- 
sary duties  of  a  Christian  Life.     Composed  in  Latin,  1795.     English 

translation. 
John    of   the   Cross,    Saint.     The    Dark    Night   of   the    Soul.     (Thomas 

Baker,  London,  1916.) 
Knox,    Tohn     (1505-1572).     Select    Practical    Writings    of    John    Knox. 

(Edinburgh.   1845).     Contains  Treatise  on   Praj^er,   pr>.   31-59. 
Law,  William  (1686-1761).    The  Spirit  of  Prayer,  or  the  Soul  rising  out 

of  the  Vanity  of   Time   into  the  Riches  of   Eternity.     2nd  edition. 

(London,  1752.)     There  is  a  later  reprint  of  all  Law's  works  by  G. 

Moreton,  9  vols.     (Brockenhurst,   1892-93.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  487 

A  Serious  Call  to  a  Devout  and  Holy  Life.     Edited  by  Canon  J. 

H.  Overton.  (Macmillan's  English  Theological  Library,  London, 
i8q8.) 

Lawrence.    Brother.     The   Practice   of  the    Presence   of   God.     The   Best 

Rule  of  a  Holy  Life.     (Robert  Culley,  London,  1908.) 
ScouGALL.  Henry    (1650-1678).     The  Life  of   God  in  the   Soul   of    Man. 

With  a  Funeral  Sermon  by  G.  Gairden,  D.D.     (Edinburgh,  1747.) 
Wilson,    TfiOMAS,    Bishop    of    Sodor    and    Man.     Maxims   of    Piety    and 

Christianity.     Edited  by  Rev.  Frederic  Relton.     (Macmillan,  London, 

1898.)     Matthew  Arnold's   favourite  book. 

iv.  Nineteenth   Century  and  Later 

Benham,  Canon  W.,  D.D.  The  Dictionary  of  Religion.  (Cassel,  London, 
i8gi.) 

Building  the  Walls.  A  Book  of  Prayer  and  Thanksgiving  for  family 
and  private  use,  with  Introduction  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
(Randall   Thomas   Davidson).     (Macmillan,   London,    igig.) 

Burroughs,  Canon  E.  A.  World-Builders  All.  (Longmans,  Green  & 
Co.,  London,  1917.) 

Carey,  Walter  J.,  M.A.  Prayer,  and  some  of  its  Difficulties.  (A.  R. 
Mowbray  &  Co.,   London,    IQ14.) 

Chalmers,  Thomas.  D.D.  On  the  Necessity  of  Uniting  Prayer  with 
Performance  for  the  success  of  Missions.  "  Tracts  and  Essays  on 
Reli:4i()us  and  Economical  Subjects,"  pp.  47-67.     (Collins,  Glasgow.) 

Chandler.  Bishop  A.  The  Cult  of  the  Passing  Moment.  (Methuen, 
London,  igig.) 

Coats,   R.   H.     Realm    of   Prayer.     (Macmillan,    London,    ig20.) 

Fleming,  G.  Granger.  The  Dynamic  of  All-Prayer.  An  Essay  in 
Analysis.     (Oliphants,    Ltd.,    Edinburgh,    igi5.) 

(jOULBOurn,  Dean  Edward  Meyrick,  D.D.  Thoughts  on  Personal  Religion, 
being  a  Treatise  on  the  Christian  Life  in  its  Chief  Elements:  Devo- 
tion and  Practice.  5th  edition.  (Ward,  Lock  &  Co.,  London  and 
Oxford,   1906.) 

The    Pursuit    of    Holiness.     A    sequel    to    Thoughts    on    Personal 

Religion,  intended  to  carry  the  reader  somewhat  farther  onward  in 
the  Spiritual  Life.     (Rivingtons,  London,  1885.) 

Greenwell,  Dora.     Two  Friends.      2nd  edition.     (Alex.  Strahan,  London, 

1867.) 
Hastings,  James,   D.D.    The   Christian   Doctrine   of   Prayer.     (T.   &   T. 

Clark,  Edinburgh,   igi.S.) 

Dictionarv    of    Apostolic    Church.     Dictionary    of   Christy  and    the 

Gospels.  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.  Encyclonaedia  of  Religion  and 
Ethics  (1908-20).  See  articles  in  each  on  Prayer,  and  the  Bibliog- 
raphies to  the  Articles  on  Prayer  in  vol.  x.  of  the  Encyclopaedia. 
(T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh.) 

Hodge.   C,    D.D.     Systematic   Theology.     (Prayer,   vol.    iii.    pp.   692-708.) 

(Nelson,  London  and  Edinburgh,  1873.) 
Holmes,   Archdeacon   E.   E..     Prayer   and   Action.     (Longmans,   London, 

1911.) 
Intercession,  the   Sharing   of  the   Cross.    Bv   C.   Gardner,   M.   G.   E. 

Harris.     Eleanor     M'DouTall,     Michael     Wood,     .\nnie    H.     Small. 

(Macmillan.  London,  1918.) 
John,    Father.     My    Life    in    Christ.     Extracts    from    the    Diary    of    the 

Mo<:t  Reverend  John  IHvtch  SergiefF   (Father  John),  translated  by 

E.  E.  GoulaeflF.    "(Cassell  ^'  Co.,  London,  t8o7.) 

.^^  Annreriation.  By  Dr.  Alexander  Whyte.  (Oliphant,  Ander- 
son R'  Ferrier.  t8oS.) 

Johnston  Rpv  John  C.  Treasury  of  the  Scottish  Covenant.  (Andrew 
Elliot.  Edinburgh,  1887.) 


488  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

M'CosH,  James,  D.D.  The  Method  of  Divine  Government,  Physical  and 
Moral.     13th  edition.     (London  and  New  York,  1887.) 

McFadyen,  John  Edgar,  D.D.  The  Way  of  Prayer.  (James  Clarke  & 
Co.,  Boston  and  London,  the   Pilgrim   Press,    1910.) 

M'Neile.  Prof.  A.  H.,  D.D.  Self-Training  in  Prayer.  (W.  Heffer  & 
Sons,  Cambridge,  1916.) 

Self-Training    in    Meditation.     (W.    Hefifer    &    Sons,    Cambridge, 

1919.) 

Martineau,  James,  LL.D.  Endeavours  after  the  Christian  Life.  8th 
edition.     (Longmans,  Green,  Reade  &  Dyer,  Londono,   1885.) 

Mott,  John  R.,  D.D.  Intercessors:  the  Primary  Need.  (The  lona  Books, 
T.  N.  Foulis,  London  and  Edinburgh,  1914.) 

Murray,  Rev.  Andrew,  D.D.  The  Prayer  Life.  The  Inner  Chamber  and 
the  Deepest  Secret  of  Pentecost.     (Morgan  &  Scott,  Ltd.,  London, 

191.S.) 

With  Christ  in  the  School  of  Praver.     (Nisbet  &  Co..  London,  1886.) 

ScROGGiE,  Rev.  W.  Graham.     Method  in  Prayer.     (Hodder  &  Stoughton, 

London,  1916.) 
Smith.  H.  Maynard.     Prayer:     Its  Nature  and  Practice.     An  Essay  for 

the  Times.     (B.  H.  Blackwell,  Oxford,  1918.) 
The  Spirit:  God  and  His  Rel.'KTions  to  Man  from  the  Standpoint  of 

Philosophy.   Psychology,  and  Art.     By  A.   Seth  Pringle-Pattison, 

Lily  Dougall,  J.  Arthur  Tadfield,  C.  A.  Anderson  Scott,  Cyril  W. 

Emmet,    A.    Clutton-Erock,   and   M.   H.    Streeter    (Editor).     (Mac- 

millan.  London.    loig.) 
SwETE,  Prof.  H.  B.,  D.D.     The  Last  Discourse  and  Prayer  of  our  Lord. 

(Macmillan,  London.  1913.) 
SwETENHAM,    L.     Conquering     Prayer,    or    the    Power    of     Personality. 

(James  Clarke  &  Co.,  London,  1908.) 
Woods,  C.  E.     Archdeacon  Wilberforce,  his  Ideals  and  Teaching.     Chap- 
ter on  Prayer.     (Elliot  Stock,  London,  1917.) 

V.  Works  and  Sermons  on  the  Lord's  Prayer 

Augustine,  Saint.  Cyprian,  Saint,  Origen,  and  Tertullian  on  the  Lord's 

Prayer.     (Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library,  T.  &  T.  Clark,  Edinburgh, 

1867-97.)     See  i.  Patristic. 
Benson,  Rev.  R.  M.     The  Divine  Rule  of  Prayer,  or  considerations  upon 

the  Lord's  Prayer.     (Mowbray.  London,  1916.) 
Bernard,   J.   H.,  D.D..   Provost  of  Trinity  College,   Dublin.     The  Praver 

of  the  Kingdom.     Studies  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.     (S.P.C.K.,  London, 

1004.) 
Dods,  Marcus,  D.D.     The  Prayer  that  teaches  to  pray.     (John  Maclaren, 

Edinburgh.   186.^.') 
M'Neile.  Rev.   Prof.    A.   H..   D.D.     The   Lord's    Prayer.     An   Outline   of 

Bible  St"dv.     (W.  Heffer  and  Sons.  Cambridge.  loig.) 

After  This  Manner  Pray  Ye.  (W.  Heffer  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  Cam- 
bridge. 1916.) 

Mii.ligan,  Rev    George.  D.D.     The  Lord's  Praver.     (Edinburgh.  1801^.) 
Morison.    E     F.     The    Lord's    Prayer,    and    the    Prayers    of    Our    Lord. 

rS.P.C.K..  London.  tqtR.) 
*^APHTR,  Rev.  A.     The  T.nrd's  Praver.     ('Nisbet  R^  Co.,  London.   1871.) 
Wells.    Tames.   DD      The   Children's    Praver.     Ad'^rf'^'^os   to  t'^p   Yonrnr 

on  +he  Lord's  Prayer.     (OHphant,  Anderson  .&  Ferrier,  Edinburo-h, 

t8o8.^ 
WiLRT^PT-oprTr,.  "Vrpti.  Bastt       .Sa^-'^tifiration  bv  the  Truth.     Sermons  on   the 

T .nrrW  Prav'^r.      TFIIiot  Stor'^.  T.ondon    T006.') 
Wilson.   Rp->'.    T.   '^.    D.D.     Onr   Father   in   Heaven.     Th''   T.ord's   Pra-"^pr 

p'-nlni'tied  and  illustrated.     A  book  for  the  voung.     (Nisbet,  London. 

i86g.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  489 

vi.  Some  Sermons  on  Prayer 

Brierley,  J.     Life  and  its  Ideals.     (J.  Clarke  &   Co..  London,   igio.) 

Creighton,  Mandell,  D.D.  University  and  other  Sermons.  (Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.,  London,   190,3.) 

Illingvvorth,  J.  R.,  D.D.  University  and  Cathedral  Sermons.  (Mac- 
millan,  London,   1893.) 

Kelman.  J.,  D.D.  Ephemera  Eternitatis.  (Hodder  &  Stoughton,  Lon- 
don, 1910.) 

LiDDON,  Canon,  D.D.  Some  Words  of  St.  Paul.  (Longman,  London, 
1898.) 

Macgregor,  William  M.,  D.D.  Repentance  unto  Life,  and  the  life  it  leads 
to.     (Hodder  and  Stoughton,  London,  1918.) 

Maclaren,  Alexander,  D.D.  Paul's  Prayers  and  other  Sermons.  (Alex- 
ander &  Shepherd,  London,  1892.) 

Magee,  Archbishop  W.  C.  Christ  the  Light  of  all  Scripture.  (Isbister 
and  Co.,  London,  1892.) 

Maurice,  F.  D.  Sermons  on  the  Prayer-Book  and  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
(Macmillan,  London,  1880.) 

Moberley,  R.  C.  D.D.  Christ  our  Life.  (Includes  six  Sermons  on 
Prayer.)      (Murray,  London,  1902.) 

Momerie.  Rev.  A.  W.,  LL.D.  The  Origin  of  Evil  and  Other  Sermons. 
(Wm.    Blackwood   &   Sons,    Edinburgh,    1888.) 

Moody.  D.  L.  Prevailing  Prayer.  What  hinders  it?  (Morgan  &  Scott, 
London,  1884.) 

Robertson.   F.   W.     Sermons,   4th    series.     (Kegan    Paul,   London,    1868.) 

ScLATER,  J.  R.  p.,  D.D.  The  Enterprise  of  Life,  being  addresses  deliv- 
ered from  an  Edinburgh  pulpit.     (Hodder  and  Stoughton,  London, 

1911.) 
Walpole,   Bishon.     Vital   Religion,  pp.   S3-66.     (R.   Scott,  London,   1902.) 
Westcott,   Bp.   B.  F.     Lessons   from   Work.     (Macmillan,  London,   1007.") 
Wilson,    James    M.,    D.D.     Christ's    Thought    of    God.     Sermon    VIII. 

(Macmillan,    London,    1920.) 
WoTHERSPOON,    H.    J.,    D.D.     Some    Spiritual    Issues    of    the    War.     (R. 

Scott,  London,  1918.) 

vii.  Prayers  on  Behalf  of  the  Dead 

Catherine  of  Genoa,  Saint.  The  Treatise  on  Purgatory,  with  a  Preface 
by  Cardinal  Mannin.     (Burns  &  Lambert,  London,  1958.) 

DuDDEN,  F.  H.,  D.D.  The  Heroic  Dead  and  Other  Sermons.  (Longman 
&  Co.,  London,  1917). 

Lee,  F.  G.  The  Christian  Doctrine  of  Prayer  for  the  Departed.  (Strahan 
and  Co..  London,  1872.) 

LucKOCK.  H.  M.,  D.D.  After  Death,  sth  Edition.  (Rivingtons,  London, 
1886.) 

Intermediate    State.     2nd    Edition.     (Longmans    &    Co.,    London, 

1801.) 

Perry,  Canon  W.,  D.D.     Providence  3'id  T  ife.     (Fdinburch,   tq?o."1 

Wright,  Rev.  Charles  H.  H.,  D.D.  The  Intermediate  State  and  Pravers 
for  the  Dead.  Examined  in  the  Lieht  of  Scrinture  and  of  .\nrient 
Jewish  and  Christian  Literature.  (James  Nisbet  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  Lon- 
don, 1900.) 

Wiseman,  Nicholas,  Cardinal.  D.D.  Lectures  on  the  Principal  Doctrines 
and  Practices  of  the  Catholic  Church,  2nd  Edition.  (Charles  Dol- 
man,  London,    1844.) 


490  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

DIVISION  V  ^ 

GENERAL 

(Prayer  of  Silence,  of  Contemplation,  of  Bodily  Healing,  etc.) 

Good  Bibliographies  of  devotional  and  mystical  writers  will  be  found  in 
"The  Graces  of  Interior  Prayer"  (Des  Graces  d'Oraison),  by  R.  P.  Aug. 
PouLAiN,  S.J.,  trans,  by  Leonora  L.  Yorke  Smith  (Kegan  Paul,  Trench, 
Triibner  &  Co.,  London)  ;  "Mysticism,"  by  Evelyn  Underhill  (Methuen 
&  Co.,  Ltd.,  London)  ;  and  "  The  Mystic  Way,"  by  Evelyn  Underhill 
(J.  M.  Dent  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  London). 

Boehme,  Jacob.     The  Way  to  Christ  described  in  the  following  Treatises 
—  Of  True  Repentance,  Of  True  Resignation,  Of  Regeneration,  Of 
the   Supersensual  Life.     (J.  M.  Watkins,  London,   igii.) 
Christ  in  You.     A  Book  of  Devotion.     (J.  M.  Watkins,  London,  1918.) 
,  Cobb,  W.   F.   Geikie,   D.D.     Spiritual   Healing.     (G.    Bell   &   Sons,   Ltd., 
^  London,  1914.)     Contains  a  small  Bibliography. 

Dearmer,  Percy,  D.D.  Body  and  Soul.  An  enquiry  into  the  effects  of 
Religion  upon  health,  with  a  description  of  Christian  works  of 
healing  from  the  New  Testament  to  the  present  day.  (Sir  Isaac 
Pitman  &  Sons,  London,  1909.) 

This    work    contains    a    well    considered    report   on    the    Faith- 
healing  work  done  at  Lourdes. 
Dresser,  H.  W.     The   Power  of   Silence.     An   Interpretation  of  Life  in 
its    Relation    to    Health    and    Happiness.     loth    edition.     (Gay    & 
Hancock,   Ltd.,  London,   1915.) 
Rresser,  H.   W.     Voices   of  Freedom  and  Studies  in  the  Philosophy  of 
Individuality.     (G.    P.    Putnam's    Sons,    New    York    and    London, 

1899.) 
Gregory,   Eleanor   C.     A  Little  Book  of   Heavenly  Wisdom.     Selections 

from  the  English  prose  mystics.     (Library  of  Devotion,  Methuen, 

London,  1904.) 
Horae   Mysticae.     A   day  book   from  the  writings  of   the  mystics 

of  many  nations.     (Library  of  Devotion,  Methuen,   London,   igoS.) 
Hare,  William  Loftus.     An  Essay  on  Prayer.     Theosophical  Publishing 

House,  London,  1918.)     Reprint  of  our  No.  XX. 
Hepher,  Canon  Cyril.     The  Fellowship  of  Silence,  being  experiences  in 

the  common  use  of  prayer  without  words,  narrated  and  interpreted 

by    Thomas    Hoogkin,    L.    V.    Hodgkin,    Percy    Dearmer,    J.    C. 

Fitzgerald,  together  with  the  Editor,  Cyril  Hepher.     (Macmillan 

&  Co.,  Ltd.,  London,  1915.) 
The  Fruits  of  Silence,  being  further  studies  in  the  common  use  of 

prayer  without   words,   together  with   kindred   essays    on   worship. 

(Macmillan  &  Co..  Ltd.,  London,  1015.) 
Hodgkin,  L.  Violet.     Silent  Worship :  the  Way  of  Wonder.     (Headley 

Bros.,  London,  1919.) 
Hugel,    Baron    Friedrich    von.     The    Mystical    Element    in    Religion    as 

studied  in  Saint  Catherine  of  Genoa  and  her  friends.     (J.  M.  Dent 

&  Co.,  London:  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York.  1909.) 
Inge,   Dean   W.    R.,   D.D.     Light,   Life,    and   Love.     Selections    from   the 

German  Mystics  with  Introduction.     (Library  of  Devotion,   Meth- 
uen, London,  190.S) 
PouLAiN,  R.  P.  Aug.,  S.J.     The  Graces  of  Interior  Prayer.     A  treatise  of 

mystical    theology.    Translated    from    the   6th    edition    by    Leonora 

L.    Yorke    Smith.     (Kegan    Paul,    Trench,    Triibner    &    Co.,    Ltd., 

London.  1910.) 
Rawson,    F.    L.     The    Nature   of    True    Prayer.     2nd    Edition.     (Crystal 

Press,  London.) 
Life  Understood.     (Crystal  Press,  London,   1914.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  491 

The   Moral  Control  of   Nervous   Disorders.     Religion    and   Medicine. 

By  Ellwood  Worcester,  DD.,  Ph.D.,  Samuel  M'Comb,  D.D.,  Isador 

H.   Coriat,   M.D.     (Kegan   Paul,  Trench,   Triibner  &   Co.,   London, 

1909.) 
Underbill,  Evelyn.     Mysticism.     A  study  in  the  nature  and  development 

of    man's    spiritual    consciousness.     6th    Edition.     (Methucn   &    Co., 

Ltd.,  London,   igi6.) 
The   Mystic    Way.     A    Psychological    Study    in    Christian   Origins. 

(J.  M.  Dent  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  London,  1913.) 

DIVISION  VI 

POETS  ON  PRAYER 

Benson,  A.  C.     Prayer. 

Blake,  Wm.     (1757-1827.)     The  Divine  Image.     "To  Mercy,  Pity,  Peace 

and  Love  All  pray  in  their  distress." 
Bridges,  R.     Pater  Noster. 

Browne,  Sir  T.     An  Evening  Prayer.     (From  Religio  Medici.) 
Browning,   E.   B.     (1806-1861.)     The   Soul's  Travelling. 
Browning,    R.     (1812-1880.)     Saul.     "All's    one   gift..."    Abt   Vogler. 
Burns,   R.     (1759-1706.)     The   Cottar's   Saturday   Night. 
Clough,  Arthur  Hugh.     Religious  Poems.     "  Qui  laborat,  orat." 
Coleridge,  Hartley.     (1796-1849.')     Prayer. 
Coleridge,  S.  T.     (1772-18.^4.')     The  Ancient  l^Iariner. 
Crashaw.  Richard.     (1613-1649.)     Prayer.    "  Lo,  here  a  little  volume." 
Dolben,  Mackworth.     Requests. 
DoNNE,    John.     (1573-1631.)     A    Hymn    to    Christ.     "Churches   are   best 

for  prayer,  that  have  least  light :     To   see   God  only  I   go  out  of 

sight." 
PowDEN,   Edward.     (1840-1013.)      Communion. 
HousMAN,    Laurence.     A    Prayer    for    the    Healing    of    the   Wounds    of 

War. 
Keble,    John.     The    Christian    Year.    Rogation    Sunday.    The    Path    of 

Prayer. 
Kipling.  Rudyard.     Recessional. 
Lynch,  Thomas  Toke.     (1818-1871.)     Prayer. 
Macdonald,   George.     (1824-1905.)     A   Prayer  for  the   Past. 
Masefield.  John.     The  Everlasting  Mercy. 
Milton,    John.     (1608-1674.)     Translations    from   the    Psalms.     (Chiefly 

David's  Prayers.) 
Montgomery.    James.     (i77i-i8=;4.)     Prayer. 
Nayadon,    Sarojent.     The    Soul's    Prayer. 
Newman,  J.  H.     (1801-1861.)     Dream  of  Gerontius.     The  Pillar  of  the 

Cloud. 
OxENHAM.    John.     All's    Well.     The    Fierv    Cross. 
Pope.   Alexander.     (1688-1744.)     The  Universal   Prayer. 
Raleigh,  Walter.     (i,i;';2-i6iR.)     Pilerimacre. 
RossETTT.    Chptsttn.v    Georgtv  \.     f  18.^0-1804.)     Out    of    the    Deep    have 

I   called   unto  Thee.   O  Lord. 
Shakespkare.  W.     Kine  Richard  TTT.     Richmond's  Prayer. 
Sharp,  Wtlt.tam.     (18^6-1002.')     The  Mystic's  Praver. 
Tennyson.  A.     (^1800-1882.)     The  Human  Cry.     The  Passing  of  Arthur. 

Doubt  and  Prayer. 
TnoMPioN    Fpvncts.     ('18=^0-1007.')     The  Kingdom  nf  God.     "Ex  Ore  Tn- 

fantium."     (Tn  the   Work'!  it  is  called  "Little  Jesus.") 
Trench.  P.  C.     ^1807-1886.)     Prayer. 

Wesley.   Charles.     C1707-1788)     Wrestling  with  the  Angel. 
Wilde,  Osc.\r.     (1856-1900.)     Ex  Tenebris. 


492  THE  POWER  OF  PRAYER 

Wordsworth,  William.     (1770-1850.)     The  Force  of  Prayer.    The ^  Ex- 
cursion, Book  ix.,  "Address  of  Priest  to  the  Supreme  Being. 

Many  more  examples  will  be  found  in  The  Oxford  Book  of  Mystical 
Verse,  chosen  by  D.  H.  S.  Nicholson  and  A.  H.  Lee.     (1917)- 


INDEX  AND  BRIEF  GLOSSARY 

BY 

The  Rev.  FREDERIC  RELTON 

FELLOW     OF     king's    COLLEGE,     UNIVERSITY    OF    LONDON,    VICAR    OF    ST.     PETER'S, 
GREAT    WINDMILL    STRLET,    LONDON,    W. 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS 


OLD  TESTAMENT 

Gen.  i.  26-27 343 

Gen.  i.  27 41 1 

Gen.  i,  31 406 

Gen.   ii.  6 408 

Exod.   iii.    14 210 

Exod.  XX.  3 418 

Exod.  XX.  4 415 

Exod.   xxxiii.    14 419 

Deut.  xxxiii.  27 419 

Joshua  V.   13-14 105 

Judges  vi.  36-37 305 

2  Kings  XX.  5-6 310 

2  Chron.  xv.  2,  12 417 

Job  xxii.  21 407 

Psalm  xiv.  i 286 

Psalm  xvii.  15 421 

Psalm  xix.  i 163 

Psalm  xxiv.   i 276 

Psalm  xxxvii.  25 346 

Psalm  xlvi.  10 420 

Psalm  li.  7 336 

Psalm  li.  ID 309 

Psalm  li.  17 199 

Psalm  Ixvi.  18 311 

Psalm  Ixvi.  18 319 

Psalm  xci.   i 419 

Psalm  cxxxvi.  i 189 

Psalm  cxlviii.  3,  9 212 

Prov.    i.   24 309 

Prov.  iii.  26 420 

Prov.  iv.  22 143 

Prov.  xxiii.  7 405 

Prov.  xxix.  25 301 

Isaiah   xxv.  9 421 

Isaiah  xxvi.  3 415 

Isaiah  xxvi.  3 418 

Isaiah  xliii.  11 416 

Isaiah  xlv.  7 237 

Isaiah  xlv.  22 420 

Isaiah  Iv.  6 266 

Isaiah  Iv.  7 418 

Isaiah  Iv.  8 179 

Jer.  vi.  19 405 

Jer.  xxv.  6 415 

Jer.  xxxi  34 421 

Ezek.   xviii.   4 102 

Dan.   vi.    13 210 

Joel,  ii  28-29 198 

Zeph.  iii.  16-17 415 

Zech.  viii.  17 418 

495 


Mai.  i.   lo-ii 218 

Mai.  iii.  10 416 

APOCRYPHA 

2  Mace.  xii.  43-46 217 

NEW  TESTAMENT 

Matt.  iv.  8 336 

Matt.  iv.   10 266 

Matt.  V  3 199 

Matt.  V.  4 198 

Matt.  V.  5-6 199 

Matt.  V.  23-24 338 

Matt.  V.  45 67 

Matt.  V.  48 420 

Matt.  vi.  6 195 

Matt.  vi.  6 318 

Matt.  vi.  8 155 

Matt.  vi.  9 103 

Matt.  vi.  9-10 205 

Matt.  vi.  9-13 318 

Matt.  vi.  10 55 

Matt.  vi.  ID 91 

Matt.  vi.  10 24s 

Matt.  vi.  10 387 

Matt.  vi.  10 393 

Matt.  vi.  10 394 

Matt.  vi.  1 1-12 206 

Matt.  vi.  II 308 

Matt.  vi.  24 148 

Matt.  vi.  24 390 

Matt.  vi.  32-33 i;^-; 

Matt.  vi.  33 288 

Matt.  vi.  2,i 292 

Matt.  vi.  33 308 

Matt.  vi.  33 346 

Matt.  vi.  33 386 

Matt.  vi.  Z3 417 

Matt.  vii.  7 267 

Matt.  vii.  II 172 

Matt.  viii.  4 211 

Matt.  viii.  8 206 

Matt.  viii.  13 206 

Matt.  viii.  13 179 

Matt.  viii.  27 348 

^Jatt.x.8 233 

Matt.  X.  22 205 

Matt.  X.  29 ^yz 

Matt.  X.  30 172 

Matt.  X.  32-33 301 


496 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS 


Matt.  X.  39 348 

Matt.  xi.  28 231 

Matt.  xi.  29 239 

Matt.  xiv.  27 94 

Matt.  XV.  8 204 

Matt.  xvi.  19 205 

Matt,  xviii.  10 187 

Matt,  xviii.  19 307 

Matt,  xviii.  19 338 

Matt,  xviii.  20 208 

Matt,  xviii.  20 211 

Matt.  xix.  14 194 

Matt.  xix.  17 406 

Matt.  xxi.  22 156 

Matt.  xxi.  22 333 

Matt,  xxiii.  12 204 

Matt.  XXV.  40 191 

Matt.  xxvi.  41 194 

Matt.  xxvi.  41 203 

Matt.  xxvi.  41 359 

Matt.  xxvi.  42 167 

Matt,  xxvii.  46 119 

Mark  vi.  5 332 

Mark  viii.  36 187 

Mark  x.  27 1 1 1 

Mark  xi.  23,  24 121,  414 

Mark  xi.  23 348 

Mark  xi.  24 321 

Mark  xi.  24 .- 339 

Mark  xi.  25 338 

Mark  xiv.  38 194 

Mark  xvi.  17,  18 415 

Mark  xvi.  18 333 

Luke  i.  46-50 213 

Luke  ii.  14 206 

Luke  ii.  29 266 

Luke  vi.  27-28 347 

Luke  ix.  23 414 

Luke  xi.  13 172 

Luke  xii.  7 172 

Luke  xii.  30-32 416 

Luke  xii.   31 419 

Luke  xvii.  20-21 390 

Luke  xvii.  21 187 

Luke   xvii.   21 406 

Luke  xviii.  i 203 

Luke  xviii.  7 275 

Luke  xxii.   19 219 

Luke  xxii.  32 205 

Luke  xxii.  42 43 

Luke  xxii.  42 44 

Luke  xxii.  42 90 

Luke  xxii.  42 165 

Luke  xxii.  42 179 

Luke  xxii.  42-44 78 

Luke  xxiii.  34 205 

John  i.  i-is 186 

John  i.  3 189 

John  i,  J4 273 


John  iii.  6 411 

John"  iii.  8 1 12 

John  iii.   14 332 

John  iii.   17 117 

John   iii   36 302 

John  iv.  24 411 

John  V.  24 256 

John  vii.   17 414 

John  viii.  28 420 

John   viii.   32 406 

John  viii.  32 414 

John   viii.  44 410 

John  viii.   51 333 

John  viii.   57-59 210 

John  X.   10 117 

John  X.  27 191 

John  X.  34 411 

John  X.  38 180 

John  xi.  41 321 

John  xi.  42 172 

John  xii.  31 20,  347,  410 

John  xiv.  3 333 

John  xiv.  10 420 

John  xiv  12 333 

John  xiv.  12 416 

John  xiv.  13-14 306 

John  xiv.  16 134 

John  xiv.  30 407 

John  XV.  4 315 

John  XV.  5 206 

John   xvi.    II 419 

John  xvi.  23 179 

John  xvi.  23-24 333 

John  xvii.  3 419 

John  xvii.  15 310 

John  xvii.  21 180 

John  XX.  23 418 

John  xxi.   15-17 205 

Acts  ii.  24 332 

Acts  viii.  21 311 

Acts  X.  38 414 

Acts  xvii.  27 261 

Acts  xvii.  28 284 

Rom.  i.  20 256 

Rom.  vi  6 315 

Rom.  vii.  4 348 

Rom.  vii.  15 420 

Rom.  vii.  24-25 1 18 

Rom.  viii.  6-7 415 

Rom.  viii.  16-17 411 

Rom.  viii.  19 115 

Rom.  viii.  21-22 331 

Rom.  viii.  26 117 

Rom.  ix.  8 411 

Rom.  xii.  2 419 

Rom.   xii.  2 420 

Rom.   xii.   5 411 

I  Cor.  i.  28 343 

J  Cor.  ii.  9 256 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS  497 

I  Cor.  ii.  9 348       Col.   iii.  3 411 

I  Cor.  iii.  9 420      Col.   iii.  3 421 

I  Cor.  xii.  27 411       I  Thess.  v.  17 180 

I  Cor.  xiii.  12 408       i  Thess.  v.  17 239 

1  Cor.  XV.  1-2 305       I  Thess  v.  21 421 

2  Cor.  iv.  18 421       2  Thess.  ii.  8 410 

2  Cor.  V.  1 421       2  Tim.  ii.  13 113 

2  Cor.  V.  14 265       Heb.    i.    3 343 

2  Cor.  V.  16 405      Heb.   xi.  6 302 

2  Cor.  V.  21 123      James   i.  5 309 

2  Cor.  vi.  1 420      James   i.    17 210 

2  Cor.  X.  5 412      James  ii.  17 190 

2  Cor.  xii.  7-9 64      James   iv.  3 267 

2  Cor.  xii.  9 417      James  iv.  6 204 

2  Cor.  xii.  19 118      James  v.  16 174 

Gal.  iii.  26 412      James  v.  16 54 

Gal.   iv.  26 349      James  v.  17 348 

Gal.  vi.  7 112       I  John  iii.  2 411 

Gal.   vi.  7 190       I  John  iii.  2 421 

Gal.   vi.   7 207       I  John  iii.  9-10 412 

Eph.  V.  28-32 348       I  John  iv.  8 171 

Eph.  vi.  12 339       I  John  iv.  14 117 

Phil.  ii.  5 417       I  John  iv.  16 260 

Phil.   ii.   12 199       I  John  v.  14 116 

Phil.  iv.  7 240       I  John  v.  19 411 

Phil.   iv.   7 405      Rev.  iii.  20 374 

Phil.    iv.    7 420      Rev.  xvii.   1-9 348 

Phil.   iv.    II 158      Rev.  xxi.  9-10 348 

Phil.    iv.    13 405 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abdul  Baha,  353,  sq.,  364 

Abdul  Baha  in  London,  364  n.,  362 

Abraham,  Mar,  the  Great,  445 

Abraham,  S.  G.,  viii 

Absolution,  336,  418 

Abt  Vogler,  489 

Acca,  356-357 

Achelis,  476 

Act  of  Prayer,  An,  484 

Action  and  deed,  432 

Adoration  in  prayer,   19 

Affinity  and  repulsion,  327-28 

Africa,  Central,  282 

Africa,  South,  New  Thought  from, 

323-349 
After  Death,  490 
After  this  vian)ier  pray  ye,  488 
Agnosticism,  9 
Agreement  of  essays  as  to  efficacy 

of  prayer  and  doctrine  of  God, 

16 
Ahimsa  (=  non-injury),  431 
Ahura-Mazda,  228 
Aladdin,   132 
Albert  the  Great,  451 
Alcuin   Club   publications,   478 
Alfonso  Maria  de  Liguori,  485-6 
All's  One  Gift  (Browning),  491 
All's  Well,  491 
Aloofness,  428 

Altar  in  the  Home,  The,  482 
Altruistic  prayer,  20-25 
Ambrose,  St.,  233,  440 
Ambrosian  Liturgy,  478 
Ameer  Ali,  Syed,  230  n. 
America.     See  United  States 
Amiel,  43 

Analogy,  argument  from,  27 
Ananias,  319 
Anarchism,  238H. 
Ancestor  worship,  225 
Ancient  Church  Orders,  The,  477 
Ancient  Mariner,  The,  491 
Anderson,  G.,  484 
Andrewes,  Bp.  L.,  482 
Andronicus  the  younger,  451 
Angela  of  Foligno,  486 
Angelic  ministry,  30,  186,  194 

pra^'er,  26 
Angels,  3,  99,  132,  193,  196,  205,  216, 

271,  371.  373 


Angelus  the,  140 

Anglican  liturgies,  475,  479 

Anglican  writers,  6,  11,  14,  15,  233 

Anguttara  Nikaya,  432  n. 

Animals,  326,  329-30 

Annotated  Scottish  Communion  Of- 
fice, 479 

Anointing  with   oil,  309 

Anonymous  countries  of  origin,  4, 
ID.     See  also  Unclassified 

Anson,  Harold,  237  n.,  483 

Answers  to  prayer,  27-32,  11 5-1 16 

Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library,  xiv., 

477,  484,  485 
Ante-Nicene  Church,  477,  478,  485 
Ante-Niccne    Church,    Liturgy    and 

Ritual  of,  478 
Anthology    of    Prayer    for    Public 

IV  or  ship,  480 
Anthony,  St.,  439 
Anthropological    Institute    Journal, 

225  n. 
Anthropology  and  prayer,  221-240 
Antichrist,  439 
Antwerp,  siege  of,  216 
Apologetics  and  prayer,  483-85,  476 
Apostles'  Creed,  160,  216 
Apostles  and  healing,  25 
Apostleship  of  prayer,  205 
Apostolischen  Konstitutionen,  476 
Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  15,  30,  89-90, 

207,  217-18,  451,  485 
Aquinas  Ethicus,  485 
Arab,  140-141 
Arabia,  440 
Argentine,   234-235 
Argument  of  the  Essays,  14-37 
Argyll,  Duke  of,  484,  485 
Aristotle,  106 
Armenia,  440 

Armenian  Church,  The.  477 
Armenian  Liturgies,  475,  477 
Army  writers,  6 
Arnold,  Matthew,  45,  112,  134 
Arnoun,  440 

Arsenius,  Abba,  441,  445 
Art  of  Public  Worship,  483 
Arthur,  William,  272,  277  n. 
Ascetic,  193,  363-64.  430,  439  sq.,  454 
Asoka,  Emperor,  435 
Asoka's  Pillar,  436  n. 


501 


502 


INDEX 


Assyria,  139 
Atchley,  Cuthbert,  478 
Athanasian  Creed,  99 
Athanasius,  St.,  440 
Atheism,  270  n. 
Atom,  130,  246,  251,  261-2 
Atomic  theory  abandoned,  170 
At-one-ment,  190,  463 
Atrophy,  239 

Attentiveness,   433.     See   also    Con- 
centration 
Attraction,  law  of,   132,  389 
Augustine,    St.,    of    Hippo,,    36,    51, 

471.  485 
AureHus,  Marcus,  45 
Australasia,  4,  9,  10,  11 
Authority,    prayer    commanded    by, 

265,  fading  away,  265 
Autobiography    of    an    Evangelist, 

299-311 
Ave  Maria,  212  sq. 
Avebury,  Lord,  224 
Avesta,  22y 
Avidya     (=  ignorance,     stupidity), 

432 
Awgin,  Mar,  439 


Bab,  the,  353 

Babylon,  348 

Babylonian  prayer,  227 

Bacon,  Lord  Francis,  74,  132,  167 

inductive  method,  128 
Baha,   Abdul,  482 
Bahai  prayer,  351-364,  481 
Baha'u'llah,  353  sq.,  476,  482 
Balder  the  Beautiful,  240  n. 
Baltimore,  vii.,  39 
Baptism,  215 

Baptist  Services,  475,  481 
Barney,  Laura  Clifford,  364 
Barrett,  Sir  W.  R,  56,  489 
Basil,  St.,  Liturgy  of,  484 
Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,  69 
Bawenda,  The,  225 
Baxter,  Mrs.,  309 
Begbie,  Harold,  52 
Belief  in  Immortality,  225 
Benedict  XV.,  Pope,  208-209 
Benedictine  Monachisni,  485 
Benediction,  service  of,  218 
Benefits  realised  without  conscious 

prayer,  100 
Benham,  Canon  Dr.  W.,  487 
Benson,  A.  C,  491 
Benson,  E.  W.,  Archbishop,  483 
Benson,  R.  H.,  483 
Benson,  R.  M.,  483,  488 
Berkeley,  influence  of,  32 


Bernard,  St.,  of  Clairvaux,  438,  447, 
486,  450 

Bernard,  Dr.  J.  H.,  488 

Bersier,  173 

Bethshan,  309 

Bevan,  Edwyn,  483 

Bhagavad,  Gita,  372,  373,  429-30 

Bhikkau  (=  beggar,  mendicant  friar, 
Buddhist  priest),  434 

Bible,  214,  301  sqq. 

in  Keswick  teaching,  316  sqq., 
317,  view  of  material  world,  409. 
See  also  Scripture,  Word 

Bibliography,  473-491 

Biederwolf,  W.  E.,  484 

Billuart.  485 

Bishops'  Book,  233 

Blake,  William,  491 

Blunt,  J.  H.,  233  n.  ' 

Boag,  John  T.,  viii 

Bodh  Gaya,  230 

Bodily  healing,  prayer  for,  476, 
490-91 

Body  and  Soul,  490 

Body  of  man,  244 

Boehme,  Jacob,  490 

Bogatsky,  C.  H.  V.,  482 

Bois,  Jules,  177 

Bond-servant,  266 

Bon  Joannes,  R.,  485 

Book  of  Common  Order,  480 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  478,  480 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  American, 

479 

Book  of  Common  Prayer  of  the 
Church  of  Ireland,  478 

Book  of  Contemplation,  A,  482 

Book  of  Divine  Consolation,  484 

Book  of  Divine  Consolations  of  the 
Blessed  Angela  of  Foligno,  486 

Book  of  Odes,  269 

Book  of  Prayers  (Bahai),  482 

Book  of  the  Foundations  of  Saint 
Teresa  of  Jesus,  486 

Bossuet,  167 

Bounds,  E.  M.,  322 

Bourignon,  Antoinette,  452-53 

Bourquin,  Charles  A.  (Swiss  Pas- 
teur)  vii.  Essay  VL,  151-180 

Boutroux,  Emile,  169 

Bradshaw   Society,   Henry,  478 

Brahma-jaia  Sutta,  434  n. 

Brahman,  meditation  on,  427,  430 

Brahminism,  140,  425  sqq. 

Brass,  natives  of,  225 

Bread,  daily,  23,  55,  156,  308,  436 
438.     See  also   Supersubstantial 

Bread  of  heaven,  437-38 

Breviary,  211-213 


INDEX 


503 


Bridges,  R.,  491 
Brierley,  J.,  489 
Brightman,  F.  E.,  477,  478 
Brinton,  Dr.,  224  11.,  226  n. 
British      Dominions      (other      than 
Canada  and  Australasia),  4,  9 

ID 
British  Empire,  287 
British  Medical  Journal,  145 
Broken  Earthcmvarc,  52 
Brooks,  Thomas,  486 
Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  491 
Browning,  E.  B.,  491 
Browning,   Robert,  75,  489 
Buchanan,  Robert,  240 
Buddhism,    140,  230-31,  354,  409-10 

Jhana,  434 
Budge,  Dr.  E.  Wallis,  481 
Building    the    IV alb:    a    Book    of 

Prayer  and  Thanksgiving,  487 
Bunsen,  The  Chevalier,  227  n. 
Burke,  Edmund,  147 
Burns,  Robert,  491 
Burroughs,  Canon  E.  A.,  487 
Butler,  Abbot  Cuthbert,  485 
By  Still  Waters,  482 
Byzantine  liturgies,  475,  477 

Cabrol,  F.,  477 

Caesarius,  Homily  of,  240 

Calderwood,  Dr.  Henry,  484 

Calm  essential  to  prayer,  467 

Calvin,  John.  15,  486 

Cambridge  Theological  Essays,  483 

Canada,  4,  9,  10,  208 

Canonical  Hours,  211  ssq. 

Cantacuzenos,  Emperor,  451 

Carey,  Walter  J.,  487 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  387,  463 

Carpenter,  Bishop  W.  Boyd,  481,  484 
487 

Cassian,  John,  440,  441,  447,  485 

Catherine   of    Genoa,    St.,   489,   490 

Catherine  of  Siena,  St.,  486 

Catholic  Apostolic  (Irvingite)  lit- 
urgy, 475-  481 

Cause  and  effect,  sequence  of.  See 
Law ;  also  Nature,  order  of 

Celtic  Church.  Liturgy  and  Ritual 
of,  478 

Cenobium,  439 

Central  ocean  of  spiritual  wealth,  32 

Chain  of  Prayer,  A,  482 

Chalmers,  Dr.  Thomas,  29-30,  484, 
487 

Chandler,  Bishop  A.,  487 

Chandogya   U panishad ,  426-27 

Character,  469 

Charles   II.,    Praj'er   Book   of,   479 


Chase,  Thornton,  364 

Chevalier  de  ,  485 

Chevreul,  160 

Child,  high  value,  267-8 

attitude,  269  n. 
Children's  Prayer,  The,  488 
Chili,  234-235 
China,  139,  268-69 

novels,  270 
Chinese  missionary  on   unanswered 
prayer,  34-36,  265-278  {passim) 
Chord  of  life,  231 
Christ  and  healing,  25 
prayer  through,  32,  43-44,  ii7,  3i8 

342,  354-55 
revealing   God   as    Love,    50,    in 

117 
an  exceptional  case,  114 
super-manhood  manifested  in,  115 
praying    in    name    (=  manifested 

nature)   of,  117 
makes  known  His  personality,  117 
as  a  mission  and  method,  117- 

.  "9 
did  not  give  Aladdin's  lamp,  132 
regards  prayer  as  vitalising  power, 

133 
in  Gethsemane,  135,  172 
on  Divine  Providence,  155 
knows  no  limits  to  prayer,  156 
spiritual  wants  are  highest  need, 

1577158 
submission  to  Divine  will,  166 
believes  in  liberty  in  God,  167 
two  foundations  for  prayer,  171 
refusals  few  and  exceptional,  172 
certain  of  answers  to  His  prayers, 

172 
used  nautral  remedies,   177 
transfigured,   178 
nature-miracles,  179 
portrait  of,  184 

immanent  and  transcendent,  186 
the  first  necessity  of  the  soul,  189 
pra,ying,  204-205 
not  known  as  Messiah,  205 
in  the  Mass,  218 
Zoroaster  and   Buddha,  231 
fed  with  life  of,  232, 
statue   of,  234-235,  240 
regards  the  despotism  of  God  as 

highly  benevolent,  266 
maxims  explained,  267 
God  worked  through  His  prayers, 

273 
the  Word  made  flesh,  273-4 
the  Healer,  276 

conception  of  prayer,  281,  439 
the  Father  does  answer,  283-4 


504 


INDEX 


Christ    (contd.)  — 
His  teaching  denied  if  prayer  is 

an  ilhision,  285 
miracles  not  such  to  Him,  286 
on     prayer     in     Sermon     on     the 

Mount,  287 
general    teaching    pervading    the 

world,  288-89 
on  prayer  in  everyday  life,  292-93 
confession  of,  302  sqq. 
nature  of  work  of,  315-16 
in  me,  I  in  Him,  315 
mode  of  prayer,  318,  414 
tasted  death,  3^^ 
promises  of,  and  conditions,  333- 

refusal  in  the  Temptation,  336 
accepted     bounty     from     friends, 

337-3^ 

and  the  laws  of  prayer,  340 

knowledge  of  God  and  eternal 
life,  340 

the  image  of  God,  341-42 

the  indwelling,  same  as  the  his- 
toric, 342 

the  universal,  343-44 

in  the  Eucharist,  348 

and  His  Church,  348 

in  Bahai  thought,  354 

and  Jacob's  ladder,  371 

the  philosophy  of  His  teaching, 
389-90 

and  forgiveness  of  enemies,  392- 

93 

how  He  heals,  396 

Gospel  of,  405 

the    most    scientifice    teacher,   406 

on   Satan,  410 

will  destroy  all  evil,  410 

the  example  of  perfect  man,  412 

and  truth,  414 

on  the  Kingdom,  416 

and  perfection,  419 

teaching   of,   436-38 

visits   man,  449-50 

sometimes  withdraws,  450 

gives    illumination,   454 

operates  in  the  Inner  Way,  455 

At-one-ment  through  His  life,  463 

the  supreme  power  of  Law,  466 

life,  466 

consciousness,  470-71 

ever  present,  471 
Christ    in    the    School    of    Prayer, 

With,  488 
Christ  in  You,  490 
Christ  our  Life,  489 
Christ   the   Light  of  all  Scripture, 
489 


Christian  Doctrine  of  Prayer,  270  n., 

484,  487 
Christian   Doctrine    of   Prayer   for 

the  Departed,  490 
Christian   Essays   submitted,   vi 
Christian  Perfection,  455 
Christian  Prayer  and  General  Laws, 

.484 
Christian  Science,  6,  7,  10,  11,  14,  24 
25,  45,  97,  98,  279-98,  293-6,  403- 
431,  458 
Christian  Worship  (Duchesne),  476 
Christian  writers,  7 
Christian  Year,  The,  489 
Christianity,    discontent    with    com- 
mon-place, 14,  15 
a  history  and  a  science,   129 
re-endowed  us  with  Prayer,   134 
moulded  the  dominant  nations,  139 
Christian,  duty  of,  239 
in  agreeement  as  to  ideas  of  God 
and  prayer,  286 
Christ's  Thought  of  God,  489 
Chrysostom,  St.,  233,  476 
Chrysostom,  St.,  Liturgy  of,  477 
Church,  prayer  for  and  in  the,  65- 
66 
a  natural  necessity,  103-104 
universal    unifies    group-life,    106, 

211 
militant  and  triumphant  and  suf- 
fering, 216,  290-91 
the  heart  and  brain  of  the  State, 

348,  392-393 
prayer  not  confined  to  the,  470 
Church  Dictionary,  235  n. 
Church  of  England.     See  Angli- 
can,  England 
Rome.    See   also   J.    P.    Murphy, 

234 
Scotland.    See  Presbyterian,  Scot- 
land 

"  Churches    are    best    for    prayer " 
(Donne),  491 

Ch'u  Yuan,  269,  270 

Cinema    pictures,    life    a    series    of, 
409,  411 

Civic  prayers,  208 

Civilised  people,  prayer  among,  227 

235 
Clark,  Captain,  226 
Classification  of  Essays,  3 

country  of  origin,  3 

sea  of  writers,  3 

vocation  of  writers,  3 

See  also  Anonymous,  Unclassified 
Clement,  St.,  Liturgy  of,  477 
Clement  VH.,  Pope,  478 
Clerical  writers,  5,  6,  9,  11 


INDEX 


505 


Cloud     of     the     Unknozving,     The, 

482 
Clough,  Arthur  Hugh,  491 
Clutton-Brock,  A.,  488 
Coats,  R.  H.,  487 
Cobb,  Dr.  W.  F.  Geikie,  490 
Cobbett,  214 
Coleridge,  Hartley,  491 
Coleridge,  S.  T.,  491 
Colley,  Sir  George,  57 
Collingwood,  R.  G.,  484 
Columbus,  85-86 

Comfort  of  position  in  prayer,  335 
Common  prayer,   103-106 
extends   to   all    functions   of   life, 

104,  208 
Common  Prayer,  Book  of,  232-233, 

479 
Communion   (E.  Dowdcn),  491 
Comtnunion  of  Prayer,  The,  481 
Communion  of  Saints,  216 
Communion  with  God,  463 
Comparative    Religion,    Essay    IX., 

221-240 
Comte,  Auguste,  150 
Concentration,  187,  334,  355-6,  385- 

86,  426,  431,  433-5,  441  sqq.,  445- 

447.    See  also  Attentiveness 
Concerning   Prayer,    104,    109,    iii- 

112,  237,  484 
Concordia  tra  la  fatica  e  la  quieta 

nell'  orazionc,  455 
Conditions    (subjective)    of  prayer, 

2,2,  179-180 
Conduct  of  Life,  47 
Conferences  (Cassian),  443  n.     See 

also  Institutes. 
Confession,  336 
Confession      of      Faith      (Lodge), 

quoted,  43 
Confession  of  sin,  26,  53,  453.     See 

also  Penitence 
Confessions  of  St.   Augustine,  471, 

485 
Confirmation,  210 
Confucius,  269 
Congregationalist   forms   of  prayer, 

475,  481 
Conquering  Prayer,   or   the  Power 

of  Personality,  488 
Consensus  of  thinking  on  prayer,  3 
Conservation  of  energy,  29,  83,   170 
Consideration,  447-481 
Consistency  bctn'cen  the  Ethics  of 

Prayer  and   the   Uniformity  of 

Nature,  On  the,  597 
Contact,  prayer  as,  470-71 
Contemplative    prayer,    439-51,   453, 

454,  476,  490-91 


Contemporary     Mind.     Prayer    and 

the,  Essay  I..  1-38 
place  of  and  thoughts  on  prayer, 

in  the,  3 
Contemporary  Review,  83,  484 
Contingency    of    Laws    of    Nature, 

169 
Contra  Gentiles,  89 
Conwav,  Mnncure  D.,  231 
Conybeare,  F.  C,  477 
Cook,  Canon  F.  C,  228 
Cooper,  Dr.  James,  476,  480 
Cooper,  Sir  W.  E.,  238  n. 
Copernicus,   168 
Coriat,  Dr.  Isador  H.,  491 
Cornaby,    Rev.    W.    Arthur    (Wes- 

leyan).  Essay  XL,  263-278 
Corporate    prayer,    338-9,    348,    362, 

377-^,    451.    See    also    Church, 

Nation,  Social,  World 
Cosmic    scheme,    131-132,    133.    ^35, 

136 
Cottar's  Saturday  Night,  The,  491 
Countries  of  origin  of  essays,  3 
how  affected  by  the  subject,  4 
Table  of,  4 
Covenant,  the,  358 
Coxe,  Bishop  A.  Cleveland,  479 
Crashaw,  Richard,  491 
Creation  not  come  to  end  in  man, 

114 
seen  in  sequence,  244,  246-47 
and   Reality.   247,  255 
not  an  external  work  of  Creator, 

257-58 
Creative   thought    (=  imagination), 

328 
Creeds,  the,  xi,  341-2 

Bahai,  357-9 
Creighton.  Bishop  Mandell,  489 
Crookes,  Sir  VV.,  163 
Cross,   The,    Christ's    method,    118- 

119 
Cult  of  the  Passing  Moment,  487 
Cyprian,  St.,  485,  488 

Daily  Bible  reading,  317 

Daily    bread,    268,    318.     See    also 

Bread 
Daily  Communion  with  God,  486 
Daily  prayer,   140-141,  208  sq.,  309, 

355,  416,  482 
Damasus,  Pope,  212 
Daniel,  317 
Dante,  316 

Dark  Ages,  The,  240  n. 
Dark,  The  Divine,   198,  450 
Dark  Night  of  the  Soul,  486 
Darwin,  Charles,  160,  249,  398 


5o6 


INDEX 


Dass,  Pandit  Bishan,  viii 
Essay  XVIII.,  381-401 
Davids,  Prof.  Rhys,  431-2 
Davidson,       Archbishop       Randall 

Thomas,  487 
Davy,  Humphry,  160 
Dawson,  George,  481 
Dead,  prayers  for,  21,  64-65,  361-2, 

476,  489-90 
Deane,  A.  C,  482 
Dearmer,  Dr.  Percy,  483,  490 
Death  and  prayer  for  recovery,  64, 
6s,  245,  275-6 
result   of   removal   of   mind,   326, 

329-31 
fear  of,  390,  470 

Decalogue,  xi.,  265 

Decius,  Emperor,  439 

Declaratory   prayer,   25-26 
objections  to,  26 

De  Consideratione,  447 

Deherme,  C,  140 

Deistic  conception  of  God,  17,  257 

de  Krudener,  Mme.,  157 

Democratic  ideals  and  prayer,  67 

Demosthenes,  142 

Deo  Adhoerendo,  451 

De  Oratione,  485 

De  Oratione  Dominica,  438,  485 

de  Rojas,  Antonio,  456-7 

Descartes,  170 

Determinism,   170 

Deussen,  Dr.  Paul,  425  n.,  426. 

Devils,  195 

Devotional  Forms  of  Prayer,  476, 
482,  484,  485^9 

Devotions,  Ancient  and  Mediaeval, 
482 

Dhamma  (^  nature,  condition, 
property,  position,  duty,  thing, 
idea,  doctrine,  law,  virtue,  piety, 
justice,  the  law,  a  Truth  of 
Buddha,  the  Buddhist  Scrip- 
tures, religion),  435 

Dictionary  of  Apostolic  Church,  486 

Dictionary  of  Christ  and  the  Gos- 
pels, 487 

Dictionary  of  Religion,  487 

Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  487 

Dida^calia  et  Constitutiones  Apos- 
tolorum,  477 

Die  Canones  Hippolyti,  477 

Difference  between  Physical  and 
Moral  Law,  277-278 

Differences  of  thinking  on  prayer,  3 

Directory  of  PublicWorship,  479,  480 
A  New,  480 
The  Westminster,  480 
in  the   United  States,  480 


Disease  an  evil,  61 
both  physical  and  mental,  62 
cured  by  law,  physical  and  spir- 

tual,  62 
partly    cured     by     the     attention 

being  turned  away,  329-30,  395- 

6 
result    of    thoughts    working    on 

subconscious     mind,     406.     See 

also  Pain,  Suffering 
Divine   Dialogue   of   St.    Catherine, 

486 
Divine  Image,  The,  491 
Divine  Rule  of  Prayer,  488 
Doane,  Bp.  W.  C,  479 
Doctrinal  books  on  prayer,  475,  485, 

490 
standpoints  of  essays,  3 
how  far  prevalent  in  countries  of 

origin,  4 
Dods,  Dr.  Marcus,  488 
Dolben,   Mackworth,  491 
Dominic,   St.,  213 
Dominion  Day,  208 
Donaldson,  Dr.  James,  477,  485 
Donne,  Dean  John,  491 
Doubt  and  Prayer,  491 
Dougall,    Lily    (=z  Pro    Christo    et 

Ecclesia),  483,  487 
Dowden,  Bp.,  478,  590 
Dowden,  Edward,  491 
Dragon  Boat  Festival,  269 
Drama  of  Spiritual  Life,  quoted,  49 
Dream,  life  a,  409-10 
Dream  of  Gerontius,  491 
Dresser,  H.  W.,  490 
Drioux,  C.  J.,  485 
Dualism,  Dr.,  441 
Dubois,  Dr.,  61 
Duchesne,  the  Abbe,  476 
Dudden,   Canon  F.   H.,  489 
Durham,  Bishop  of  (Moule),  483 
Duty,  Gospel  of,  393-399 
Dynamic  of  All-Prayer,  487 
Dynamics  of  prayer,  128-29,  133-34, 

138,  271,  274  sq. 
biriais^   278 
Seo-TTOTT/s,  266 
SoiJXos,    266 
bvvanis,   175,  276 


Early  English  Instructions  and  De- 
votions, 482 

Early  History  of  Liturgies  (Sraw- 
ley),  476 

East  Syrian  Daily  Offices,  477 

Eastern  Church  liturgies,  475,  476- 
77 


INDEX 


507 


Eastern  countries  (especially  In- 
dia), 4,  9,  10,  35.  See  also  In- 
dia 

Ecclesiastical  Prayers,  483 
type  ot  prayer.     See   I-'ormal 

Eckhart,  451 

Ecstasy,  448,  449-5°,  452 

Eddy,  Mary  Baker,  97,  98,  293-6 

Edison,  Thomas,  408 

Edward  VI.,   Prayer  Rooks  of,  479 

Effect  of  prayer  on  life,  318-19 

Efficacy  of  prayer,  universal  agree- 
ment as  to,  16,  17 

Efficacy  of  Prayer  and  Uniformity 
of  Nature,  Consistency  of 
(Chalmers),  484 

Efficacy  of  Prayer  (Jellet),  484 

Efficacy  of  Prayer,  Statistical  En- 
quiries concerning  the,  484 

Effort,  right,  A22-:i?, 
absence    of,    the    inner    way   and, 

454 
Egbos,  the,  225 
Egypt,    129,    139,    140,   227,   439   sq., 

482 
Egypt,  227  n. 
Egyptian     forms     of     service,     475, 

481 
Eighteenth    Century    Prayers,    476, 

485-7 
Eightfold  path,  431-2 
Election,  doctrine  of,  31 
Elijah,  235 

Elijah,  Bp.  of  Mokan,  445-6 
Eliot,  George,  60 
Elisha,  23s 
Ellis,  224  n. 

Elizabeth,  Prayer  Book  of,  479 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  45,  47,  132, 

375,  376,  386.  400 
Emmett,  Cyril  W.,  488 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  478 
Encyclopaedia     of     Religion     and 

Ethics,  223-4,  231,  487 
Endeaz'ours  after  the  Christian  Life, 

488 
Energies,  new,  in  Nature,  28 
Energy,  conservation  of,  28 

of  spirit  essential  to  prayer,  467 
England,  4,  9,  10 
influence    of,    on    her    dominions 

and  America,  14,  457-8 
English  Presbyterian  Services,  475, 

480 
English  Rite,  The,  479 
Enlightenment,  430-2 
Enterprise  of  Life.  The,  489 
Environment,  387-8,  394 
Ephemera  Eternitatis,  489 


Episcopal  Church  in  America,  479 

in  Scotland,  479 
Eschatology,  20 
Espinosa,  Mgr.,  234-5 
E.ssay  on  Miracles,  167 
Essay  on  Prayer  (Hare),  490 
Esslemont,  J.   E.    (Bahaist),   Essay 

XVI.,  351-64 
Ethics  and  prayer,  142,  235-40 
Ethics  and  religion,  223-4 
Ethnology,  235.    See  also   Anthro- 
pology. 
Eucharist,  the,  348.     See  also  Mass 
Euchologion,    a   Bool:    of   Prayers, 

480 
European     countries,     others     than 
Nos.   I,  2,  3,  4,  9,   10  in  Table 
I-,  5,  9,  10 
Evagrius,  440,  446 
Evangelical  thought,  x,  7,  8,  14 

on  Eschatology,  20,  36 
Eve,  332 

Evening  Prayer,  An,  491 
Evensong,   140 
Everett,  102 

Everlasting  Mercy,  The,  491 
Evil,  why  permitted,  198-9,  262 
brings  about  its  own  destruction, 
417 
Evolution,  how  it  affects  man,   114 
psychological  and  prayer,  236,  238- 
9,  329-30,  368 
Evolution  of  Morality,  227  n. 
Excursion,  The,  491 
Exorcism,  277 
Ex  Ore  Infantium,  491 
Experience,    essays    based    on    per- 
sonal, 16 
but  this  in  two  directions,  prayer 
answered  and  unanswered,  35-7, 
71-106 
yields  Law  of  prayer,  129-30 
bears  witness  to  prayer,  133 
and  Divine  goodness,  117-73,  198 
phenomena  of,  and  reality,  433 
See  also  Self,  Unanswered  prayer 
Experiment,  prayer  subject  of,  and 

observation,   128,  277-8 
Expression     deepest     necessity     of 

man,  136,  163-4 
Ex  Tenebris  (Wilde),  491 
Externalism,  426 
€VT€v^is,  278 
cTTtoiVtoj,  437^/  seq. 


Failure  in  prayer,  339 
Faith.  24,  33,   120-2,  454,  457.    See 
also  Trust 


5o8 


INDEX 


Faith  healing,  24 

due  to  new  discoveries  in  science, 
24,  98-9 

lives  sacrificed,  97,  98,  309-10 

yet  valuable,  98,  176-70,  396-7 
Faith  of  a  Missionary,  Essay  XL, 

263-78 
Falcini,  R.  R.  Carlo,  485 
Fall,  the,  331 
Family  prayer,  34,  482-3 
Family  Prayer  Book,  The,  482 
FamilyPrayers  for  EightWeeks,  483 
Family    Worship,  Prayers  for,  483 
Fasting,  196-7,  443,  452 
Feelings,  328  sq.,  330 
Fellozvship  of  Silence,  490 
Feltoe,  C.  L.,  476-7 
Fervour,  469-70 
Fiery  Cross,  The,  491 
Fire  Cloud,  226 
Fitchett,  Dr.,  137 
Fitzgerald,  J.  C,  490 
Fleming,  G.  Granger,  487 
Forbes,  G.   H.,  478 
Force  of  Prayer,  491 
Foreknowledge    of    all    prayer,    30. 

See  also  Predestination 
Forgiveness,  335 
Formal  thought,  essays,  7,  8,  11 

not   fruit  of  personal  conviction, 
but  =:  ecclesiastical,  8 

prayer,  467 
Fortescue,  Adrian,  476 
Fortescue,  E.  F.  K.,  476 
Fortnightly  Review,  359  n.,  360  n., 

484 
Fort  Yates,  226 
Fox,  George,  458 
Fox,  Dr.  Selina  F.,  482 
Fragments  of  Science,  484 
France,  4,  9,  10,  11,  140,  150,  456 
Francis,  St.,  of  Assisi,  178,  486 

de  Sales,  37,  486 
Franciscan  Order,  453 
Eraser,  W.  C,  Bibliography,  473-91 
Frazer,  Sir  J.  G.,  225 
Freedom,  468 
Freewill,  245,  249,  258,  330  sq.,  388, 

453.     See  also  Will,  Divine 
Frere,  Dr.  W.  H.,  478,  483 
Friends,  Society  of,  34,  457-8 
Fruits  of  Silence,  490 
Function  of  Prayer  in  the  Economy 

of  the  Universe,  485 
Function  precedes  organism,   387-8 
Funk,  F.  X.  von,  476 

Gain  of  Prayer,  464 
Gairden,  Dr.  G.,  487 


Galilean  liturgies,  475,  478 

Galton,  F.,  484 

Garbett,   Canon,  482  ■p 

Gardner,  Charles,  488 

Garnett,  L.  M.  J.,  229  n. 

Garvie,  Dr.  A.  E.,  482 

Gathas,  Persian,  227-8 

Gaya,_230,  231 

Gelasian  Sacramcntary,  The,  /\yy 

General    dispensation    of    God    (cf. 

Butler's  Analogy),  28 
General  result  of  study  of  Essays, 

14,  15 
Genesis  of  American  Prayer  Book, 

591 
Geneva,  479 

German  Mass,  The,  478 
German  mind  on  group-life,  106 

urged  by  religion  of  force,  149 

mystics,  490 

Liturgies,  478-9 
Gerontius,  Dream  of,  491 
Gethsemane,  Christ  in,  135 

a  mother  in,  135 
Gifford    Lectures     (Stokes),     91-2 

(Gwatkin),   no 
Give  and  Take,  328  et  passim 
Gladstone,  W.  E.,  51,  595 
Gloria  in  excelsis,  205 

correct  translation  of,  205-6 
Glorification,    188 
God,  pre-supposition  of,  17-9 

Christian  idea  accepted,  17 

personality  and  pantheism,   17 

immanence  and  transcendence, 
17-8 

really  does  hear  and  answer,   18, 

19. 

His  immutability  only  in  apparent 
conflict,  19 

and  a  world  with  fixed  order,  19 

prayer  to,  not  superfluous,  19- 
20 

human  receptivity  required  by,  19 

how  it  is  possible  for  Him  to  an- 
swer, 27 

self-limitation  of  (cf.  Hooker's 
First  Law  Eternal),  27 

easy  for  to  answer  for  subjective, 
difficult  for  objective  blessings, 

27  .        . 

analogy  of  infinite  and  finite  na- 
tures, 27 

foreknowledge  of  all  prayer,  30 

cosmic  forces  arranged  accord- 
ingly, 30-1 

difficult  to  relate  prayer  to  our 
conception  of  Him  as  a  free 
Being,  32 


INDEX 


509 


God   (contd.)  — 
prayer  unanswered  because  not  in 

harmony    with   His   self-hinita- 

tion,  35  .   . 

human    and    Divine    standpoints 

may  be  different,  34 
His  view  wider  than  ours,  36 
cannot    grant    what    would    be    a 

contradiction,  36 
we    must    be    chary    of    limiting 

power  of,  to  answer  prayer,  35 
ever      giving      new       things      to 

the    world    of   men   and   by   tlie 

creation     of     individual     souls, 

37 
human  personality  ever  close  to, 

personality   implied,    44-5,    73   sq. 
alternatives  to  personality,  45 
not  a  Deistic  Being,  45-6 
nature  of,  revealed  by  Christ,  50, 

88 
universality   of   goodness   of,    55, 

.67 
gives    man    share   in   government 

of  world,  69 
what  the  thought  of,  involves,  78 
works  through  man,  84 
behind  all  life,  99 
acts     beyond     our     desires     and 

prayers   as   well   as   with   them, 

100- 1 
in  man,  not  only  a  human  concep- 
tion but  a  spiritual  force,  104 
limitations    of,    idea    of    a    mere 

tribal  God  burned  out,   105 
answers  'by  denial  as   well   as  by 

granting,    109 
man,  and  environment  in  relation 

to  prayer,   i 10-16 
and  the  idea  of  holiness,  11  r 
and  the  idea  of  strength,  in 
alive  to  our  situation,   in 
power  used  in  a  moral  way,  iii- 

12 
does  not  deny  Himself,    1 13-14 
sets    in    motion    some    unknown 
law,   113 

but   only   in   exceptional   cases, 
114 

Jesus  Christ  one  such,  115 
may  directly  affect  man,   114 
varying  ideas  of,   117 
can  be   reached,    131 
prayer  begins  in,   135 
sought  in  darkness,   145 
Germany  and  we  praying  to  same, 

149 
some  try  to  eliminate,  150 


God   (conld.)  — 
knows  our  needs  yet  requires  ask- 
ing. 155 
acts  on   individual   in  prayer,   161 
His  free-will  makes  answer  pos- 
sible,  163 
so  His  immutability,  163,  166 
prayer  can  act  on,   165-^ 
universe  sets  limitation  to  inter- 
vention, 169 
utilises  all  energies,   170-1 
intervenes  in  humanity,  171 
mode  of  granting  is  His   secret, 

174 
His  decrees  and  prayer,  210 
proclaims  the  eternal  living  pres- 
ent, 210 
sending    calamities    and    punish- 
ments, 237 
creates  evil  as  well  as  good,  2^7 
but  Nature  does  this,  not,  237 
the  Author  of  Nature,  244-5 
the    universe   a    manifestation   of 

the  thought  and  will  of,  244 
knowledge  of,  is  everlasting  life, 

256 
not  an  external  Creator,  257-8 
His     sanctuary     (^kingdom    of 

heaven)   within  us,  260 
no  one  else  to  go  to  except,  260 
His    Fatherhood    to    be    realised, 

262 
commands  prayer  authoritatively, 

265 
Chinese  conception  of,  268-9 
our,  the   same  as   Psalmists'  and 
Prophets',  270-1 
the  inspirer  of  prayer,  272 
wrong  conception  of,  281-5 
does  answer  prayer,  283-4 
our  conception  of  and  relation  to 

Him,  284-5 
separation  from,  a  wrong  thought, 

284-5 
the  first  consideration  in  prayer, 

308-9 
the    whole    and    complete    Mind, 

327 
knowing  Him  in  prayer,  333-4 
the  Universal  Mind  imaged  in  the 

Son,  341-2 
is  Love,  349 

unknowable   by  finite   minds,   353 
the   Word   first   emanation    from, 

353 
created  man,  353 
manifested    throughout    universe, 

353-4 
known  through  love,  360 


5IO 


INDEX 


God   (confd.)  — 
union  with,  through  prayer,  369 
knows  our  material  needs,  385 
all  should  be  consecrated  to,  394- 

5 
true  knowledge  of,  405 
the  one  absolute  Good,  406 
all  good  made  by,  410-11 
is  Spirit,  411 
alone  heals,  413 
think  of,  and  heaven,  414-15 
workers  together  with,  420 
identical  with  the  soul,  426 
visions  of,  441-2,  448-50 
resignation   to,  451-2 
religion  the  work  of,  454 
solitude  with,  455 
communion  with,  463 
manifestation  in  prayer  of,  470 

God  and  His  Creatures,  485 

God    and    His    Relations    to    Man, 
488 

Godkin,    G.    S.,   Monastery   of  San 
Marco,  232  n. 

Golden  Grove,  The,  482 

Golden  Treasury,  A,  481 

Golden  Treatise  of  Mental  Prayer, 
486 

Gordon,   Charles,  51 

Gordon,   S.   D.,  322 

Gore,  Bishop  Charles,  484 

Gospel,  the,  405 

Gottschling,  Rev.  E.,  225  n. 

Goulbourn,  Dean  E.  M.,  487 

Gouldsmith,  Canon,  483 

Graces  of  Interior  Prayer,  490 

Graham,  G.  C,  232  n. 

Great  Souls  at  Prayer,  482 

Greater   Ventures   of    Prayer,    181- 

99 
Greece,  148 
Greek  Church  in  Russia,  Rites  and 

Ceremonies  of  the,  477 
Greek  Liturgies   (Swainson),  477 
Greek  mind  on  group-life,  106 

and  atheists,  139 

enlarged  by  the  sea,  274 
Greenwell,  Dora,  487 
Gregory,  Eleanor  C,  490 
Gregory  I.,  Pope,  232 
Gregory.  VII.,  Pope,  212 
Gregory,   St.,  the  Illuminator,  477 
Grenfell,  Dr.  W.,  of  Labrador,  60 
Grosart,  A.  B.,  486 
Group-life,  105-6 

Growth   of  a   Soul    (Hudson  Tay- 
lor), 322 
Growth  of  a  soul  from  within,  389 
Guida  Spirituale,  453 


Guna  (=  a  string,  thread,  rope ;  also 
by  extension,  quality,  property, 
power,  faculty),  428 

Guyau,  154 

Guyon,  Madame,  456,  486 

Gwatkin,  Dr.  H.  M.,  no 

Gwynne,  W.,  479 

Hadfield,  J.  Arthur,  488 

Haeckel,    168 

Hammond,  C.  E.,  477 

Handel,  398 

Hanotaux,  169 

Hardwick,  Archdeacon,  232  n. 

Hare,  W.  Loftus  (Theosophist),  vii 

Essay  XX.,  423-58,  490 
Harmony  essential  to  prayer,  338 
Harris,  Muriel  G.  E.,  487 
Hastings,  Dr.  James,  223  n.,  270  n., 

484,  602 
Hawkins,    Edward    J.     (Congrega- 
tionalist),  vii 

Essay  IV.,  107-24 
Healing,    Prayer   and,    95-9,    293-6, 
385,  395,  412-13,  471,  476,  603-5 

proposed    hospital    test    excludes 
genuine  prayer,  102 
Healing   of    the    Wounds   of   War, 

Prayer  for  the,  491 
Health  and  Holiness  quoted,  60 
Health  and  Prayer,  334-5,  346 
Heaven  described  negatively,  257 

a  state  of  consciousness,  406 

hidden  by  matter,  408 

how  proved,  408-9 

false    concept   of,   410 
Hebrews  i.  14  referred  to,  30 
Hedley,  Rev.  J.,  231-2 
Hegel,    134 

Hegelian  conception  of  God,  17-18 
Helenopolis,  440 

Hell  a   state   of  consciousness,  406 
Henry,  Matthew,  483,  486 
Henry  VIII.,  233 
Hepher,  Canon  Cyril,  490 
Heredity,  55,  236,  249 
Heroic  Dead,  The,  489 
Hesychastae,  451 
Hibbcrt  Journal,  485 
Hidden  Words,  364 
High   Church   Essays,  8.    See   also 

Formal 
Higher  Criticism,  315-16 
Higher  Pantheism,  The,  quoted,  45, 

88 
Hilarion,  440 
Hilary,   St.,  233 
Hindu  Yoga,  425-30 
Hippolyti,  Die  Canones,  476 


INDEX 


511 


Historia  Monastica,  440,  445  n.,  447 

n. 
History   of   the   Book   of   Common 

Prayer,  A  nev.',  479 
History  of  Christian  Church,  232  h. 
History  of  European  Morals,  236  n. 
History    of    Religion    in    England, 

23i  n. 
History   of   the    Church    of   Christ, 

232  n. 
History  of  Prayer,  Essay  XX.,  423- 

58 
Hitchcock,  F.  R.  M.,  484 
Hodge,  Dr.  C,  487 
Hodgkin,  L.  Violet,  490 
Hodgkin,  Dr.  T.,  490 
Hodgson,  Dr.  Geraldine  E.,  482 
Hodgson,  Leonard,  484 
Holiness    (=  Health)    and    Prayer, 

335 
Holmes,  Archdeacon  E.  E.,  487 
Holy  Living  and  Dying,  482 
Home  Prayers   (Martineau),  481 

(Knight  and  Menzies),  483 
Homer,  129,  316 
Homily  of  Caesarius,  240 
Hook,  Dean,  236  n. 
Hooker,  Richard,  484 
Hope,  457 
Horace,  164 
Horae  Mysticae,  490 
Horton,  Dr.  R.  P.,  483 
Hospital  Prayers,  483 
House   of   Commons,   prayers,    146, 

147 
Housman,  Laurence,  491 
How  can  God  answer  Prayer?  484 
Howe,  Julia  Ward,  69 
Hiigel,  Baron  Friedrich  von,  490 
Human  Cry,  The   (Tennyson),  491 
Human  element  in  Essays,  16 
Hume,  David,   167 
Humility,  2,3,  457 
Hurstius,  J.   M.,  486 
Huxley,  Prof.  T.  H.,  i6a-9,  223,  369 
Hymn  to  Christ   (Donne),  491 
Hymn  to  the  Cross,  232 
Hymns  by  George  Walker,  x-xi 

in  the  Mass,  217-18 
Hypnotism,  409 
Hyslop,  Dr.  J.  H.,  56,  145 

lamblichus,  369 

Ideal  to  be  reached,  464 

Idealism   tending    to   eliminate    Di- 
vine action,  87 
Vedantic  doctrine  of,  426 

Ideals    tend    to    realise    themselves 
through  prayer,  238 


Iliad,  129 

Illingworth,  Dr.  J.   R.,  483,  489 
Illumination,  prayer  as,  462-3 
Images  in  worship,  214,  230-1 
Imaging,  339-40,  343,  412 
Immanence,  Divine,  17,  28,  163,  186 

Essay  XVIII.,  381-401 
Immortality,  426 
Immutability,    Divine,    19,    163,    166, 

168 
Importance  of  prayer,  153-6 
Impressions  and  Reflections,  Essay 

XXI.,  459-71 
Imprimatur,  203 
Incarnation,  the,  source  of  life  and 

light  and  spiritual  power,  37 
philosophy  teaching  it,   134 
bridges  chasm  between  God  and 

man,  137,  273-4 
Bahai  prophets   not   incarnations, 

but  revelations  of  glory  of  God, 

353-4 
Independent  thought   in   essays,    15 
Index,  private  for  use  of  Trustees, 

8 
India,  129,  139,  191.     See  also  East- 
ern  Countries 
Individual    in    relation    to    prayer, 

205-8 
value  of  prayer  to  the,  287-90 
Infinite,  the,  246.     See  also  God 
Inge,  Dean  W.  R.,  490 
Ingersoll,  R.  G.,  398 
Initiation  ceremonies,  227 
Insect  life,  250-2 
Instinct,  251 
Institutes    and    Conferences    (Cas- 

sian),  440,  442 
Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion, 

486  _ 
Institution  of  a  Christen  Man,  2ii- 

4 
Intellect  limited,  246  sq. 
Intellectual    and   Moral   Education, 

169 
Intelligence,  328-9 
Intensity,  469-70 
Intercession,    the    Sharing    of    the 

Cross,  488 
Intercessors:     the    Primary    Need, 

488 
Intercessory    prayer,    20,    21,    54-9, 

99-103 
depends  on  unity  of  man,  54,  122 
involves      spiritual      expenditure, 

57 
for    nations,   67-8,   69,   99-103 
effects    objective    and    subjective, 

102,  121-3,  272,  318,  344  sq. 


512 


INDEX 


its     possibilities    yet    unrealised, 
470 
Intercessory    Prayer,    Manual    of, 

483 

Interior  silence,  456-7 
way,  453,  454-5 

Intermediate    state,     20.    See    also 
Purgatory 

Intermediate  State,  The,  489 

Interposition,  doctrine  of,  387-93 

In  the  Shadow  of  the  Bush,  225 

Introduction    to    the   Devout   Life, 
486 

Intuition,  446,  467 

Ireland,  4,  9,  10,  11,  440,  479 

Irish  Prayer  Book,  479 

Isaac,  Abbot,  444 

Islam,    78,   238.    See   also   Moham- 
medan 

Islam,  229  ». 

Italy,  455 


Jacob's  ladder,  a  parable  of  prayer, 

137,  371 

Jalal  al  din,  228 

James,  Liturgy  of  St.,  477 

James,  William,  41,  43,  59,  77,  87, 
96 

Jastrow,  Dr.,  227 

Jean-Christophe,  46 

Jellet,  J.  H.,  484 

Jesuits,  453,  455 

Jesus  Christ.    See  Christ 

Jevons,  F.  B.,  103 

Jewish  service  books,  475,  481 
writers,  6,  10 

Jews,  212,  217  M.,  266,  439,  481 

Jhana    (=  meditation,    trance,    rap- 
ture), 433-5 

J.  L.  E,  Essay  VI.,  181-99 

John,  Father,  an  Appreciation,  487 

John,  Father,  487 

John  Baptist,  St.,  286 

John,  St.,   171 

John  of  the  Cross,  Saint,  486 

Johnston,  John  C,  487 

Jones,  Sir  H'.,  114 

Jones,  R.  Crompton,  481 

Jones,  Rufus  M.,  484 

Joshua,  type  of  soldier  in  war,  105 

Journal,   Anthropological   Institute, 
225 

Journal  Intime,  quoted,  43 

Judas,    157 

Judas  Maccabaeus,  217 

Judgement,  419 

Juliana  of  Norwich,  80,  486 

Justification,  188 


Kaivalya,  428 

Kant,   168 

Kapila,  429,  430 

Karma,  393,  377,  434 

Keble,  John,  491 

Kelman,  Dr.  J.,  489 

Kelvin,  Lord,  408 

Ken,  Bishop  Thomas,  483 

Kennedy,  E.,  Essay  XIV.,  313-22 

Kepler,  160 

Keswick  teaching,  2>'^i-'2'2 

Kibla,  356-7 

Kingdom  of  God,  174,  187,  357,  406, 

417,  443,  466,  470-1 
Kingdom  of  God,  The  (Thompson), 

491 
King's  Birthday,  The,  208 
Kinnell,    ix-xi 
Kipling,  Rudyard,  491 
Klein,    Sydney   T.,    Essay  X.,   241- 

62 
Knight,  William,  83,  91,  483,  485 
Knowledge  of  God,  233,  370 
Knowledge  of  God,  no 
Knox,  Bishop  E.  A.,  270  n. 
Knox,  John,  479,  480,  486 
Koran,  The,  229 
Krishna,  430 
Kropotkin,  Prince,  238  n. 


Laborare  est  orare.    See  Work 

Lacombe,  456 

Ladder  of  Perfection,  448 

Lamb,  Charles,  398 

Lambeth  Conference  of  1920,  11 

Language  of  Essays  submitted,  vi  n. 

Last  Discourse  and  Prayer  of  our 
Lord,  488 

Latin  Countries,  Essays  from,  5,  10 

Latouche,  Peter,  238)1. 

Laud,  Archbishop  W.,  480 

Law,  R.  H.,  485 

Law,  William,  486 

Law  and  prayer,  23,  24,  23,  465-6 
fixity  of  law  denied  by  some,  28 
:=  empirical     generalisations,     29, 

47  sq.,  81  sq. 
defined,  82-4 

pervades  all  existence,  95 
the  world  a  realm  of,  11^-14 
no    law   violated   by  prayer,    115, 

236,  387  sq. 
of  prayer,    129,    173-4,   235-8  478 

sq. 
does  not  exclude  effort,  131 
not   ground   for   valid   objections 

to  prayer,   167-9 
limit  to  Divine  intervention,    169 


INDEX 


513 


Law  and  prayer  (contd.)  — 

ethical    law   of   cause   and   effect, 

236 
thrown  overboard  by  anarchy,  238 
not  fixed,  not  part  of  a  process, 

257-8,  276-8 
really  =  imposed  by  authority,  277 
of  good  and  love,  285,  325-7 
works  in  two  ways,  333-4 
to  be  accepted,  337,  368,  372 
spiritual  law  governs  world,  279- 

98,  390 
of  material   world   not  true,  408, 

483-4 
Laws    of   Ecclesiastical   Polity,    Of 

the,  484 
Lawrence,   Brother,  487 
Lawrence,  Edward,  Essay  IX.,  221- 

40 
Lay  writers,  5,  9 
Lazarus,  321 
Lea,    Charles    Herman     (Christian 

Scientist),   Essay   XII,   279-98 
Leatham,  238  n. 
Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  41,  236 
Leclercq,  Henricus,  477 
Lectures  on  Principal  Doctrines  of 

Catholic  Church,  490 
Lee,  Dr.  F.  G.,  489 
Lee,  Dr.  Robert,  480,  483 
Lees,  Dr.  J.  Cameron,  480 
Leishman,  Dr.  T.,  480 
Leo  XIII.,   Pope,  478 
Leonard,  A.  G.,  225 
Lescher,  Father  VV.,  485 
Lessons  from  IVork,  489 
Lewis,  D.,  486 
Lex-  Crcdcndi,  51 
Liberal   Catholic    (=  Old   Catholic) 

Liturgy,  475,   480 
Library  of  Devotion,  482,  485,  486, 

490 
Library  of  Religion,  482 
Liddon,  Canon  H.  P.,  489 
Life,  secret  of.  416,  465 
Life  and  its  Ideals,  489 
Life  of  God  in  Soul  of  Man,  486 
Life   Understood,  490 
Light,  Life  and  Love,  490 
Light  within  and  without,  427,  451 
Limits  of  Prayer,  90  sq.,  319 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  51 
Lisbon,  earthquake  of,  398 
Litanies,  216 

Little  Book  of  H eavenlylVisdom,  490 
Littledale,  Dr.  R.   F.,  483,  484,  477 
Little  Jesus,  491 
Liturgies,  primitive,  129 
Eastern   and   Western,  475-80 


Liturgies,     Eastern     and     Western 
(Hammond),      477,       (Bright- 
man),  477 
Liturgies,    Early    History    of    the, 

476 
Liturgy    and    Ritual    of    the    Antc- 

Nicenc  Church,  478 
Liturgy    of    Reformed    Church    in 

America,  480 
Liturgy  of  St.  Chrysostom,  477 
"  Lo,  here  a  little  volume,"  491 
Local  efficacy  of  prayer,  274-5 
Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  41,  43,  56,  485 
Lofthouse,  W.  F.,  484 
Logic  of  prayer,  129,  135-6 
Lombroso,   178 
London,    Bishop   of    (Ingram),    loi 

Greek  Church  in,  477 
Lord's  Prayer,  54,  55,  155,  156,  204, 
205-06,  213,  234,  260-1,  268,  272, 
273,  393,  436-8,  444,  445,  466, 
476,  485,  491.  See  also  Ser- 
mons 
Lord's  Prayer,  An  Outline  of  Bible 

Study,  488 
Lourdes,  24,  98,  177,  490 
Love,  God  as,  in 
the  soul  of  faith,  190,  456 
essential   to  prayer,  467,  469 
See  also  God  and  Christ 
Loving  God,  On,  486 
Lozver  A'iger  and  its  Tribes,  225 
Luckock,  Dean  H.  M.,  489 
Lucy,  Lady,  482 
Luther,  51,  78 
Lutheran   Church,  5,   10 
liturgy,  475,  478 
writers,    15 
Lux  Mundi,  484 
Lynch,  T.  T.,  491 


Macaulay,  Lord,  214 
McClure,  Canon  Edmund,  477 
McComb,       Canon       Dr.       Samuel 
(American    Episcopalian),    vii, 
491 
Essay  II.,  39-70 
IVIcCosh,  Dr.  James,  30,  31,  485,  488 
MacDonald,  George,  491 
M'Dougall,   Eleanor,  487 
M'Dougall,  Dr.  W.,  56 
M'Fayden,  Dr.  John   Edgar,  488 
Macgregor,  Dr.  William  M.,  489 
Maclaren,  Alexander,  489 
McLaughlin,  James,  226 
Maclean,   Bp.  A.  J.,  477 
M'Neile,  Dr.  A.  H.,  488 
Magee,  Archbishop  W.  C,  489 


514 


INDEX 


Magic,  prayer  not,  32 

Magic,  religious,  96,  425  sqq. 

Mahabodhi,  231 

Mahd  Parinibbana  Suttanta,  432  n. 

Maitland,  Dr.,  240 

Majjhima  Nikdya,  432  n.,  435  n. 

Malabar,  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of, 

477 
Malachi    prophesies    of    the    Mass, 

218 
Malan,  Solomon  Caesar,   174 
Malaval,  455 

Mammon-worship,  148,  311,  390 
Man  here  to  work  out  a  salvation 
of  his  own,  36 

to  build  up  a  spiritual  personal- 
ity, SI 

this  a  process,  53 

in  relation  to  universe,  79 

in  relation  to  God  and  the  world, 
I 14-16 

how  affected  by  evolution,   114 

a  process,  114 

chief  mode   in   revelation   of  Di- 
vine, 13s 

intervenes  in  nature,  171 

prayer  his  first  duty,  203 

barbaric  and  uncivilised,  223-5 

the  new  science  of,  235 

must  conserve  not  destroy,  239 

his    spiritual   personality,  part   of 
the  great  Spirit,  245 

his    real    personality    not    limited 
by  time  or  space,  245 

how  constituted,  244 

and  God,  325-6 

not  a  machine,  326 

is  mind,  325-6 

created  through  the  Word,  353 

highest  revelation  comes  through, 

353-4. 
composite  in  nature,  368-9 
his    environment    also    composite, 

369 
nature  of,  387 
his  failure,  387 
spiritual  consciousness  opened  by 

prayer,  391 
mortal  and  spiritual,  410-12 
spiritual  men,  454 
Manning,  H.  E.  Cardinal,  489 
Manu,    laws    of,    the    four    stages, 

191-2 
Manual  of  Prayer  from  the  Liturgy 

(W.  E.  Gladstone),  482 
Marconi,   137 
Marga,  bishop  of,  440 
Mark,  Liturgy  of  St.,  477 
Marriage,  348 


Marshall,  C.  C.  Bruce,  viii 

Marston,  A.  W.,  486 

Martin,  Percy  F.,  235  n. 

Martin,  Dr.  Samuel,  482 

Martin,  St.,  440 

Martineau,  Dr.  James,  79,  83,  481, 
488 

Masefield,  John,  491 

Masnavi,  The,  81 

Mason,  Charles  (Evangelist),  Es- 
say XIII.,  299-311 

Mass,  The,  217-18,  234 

Mass,  The  (Fortescue),  477 

Material  blessings,  21,  22,  y6,  157, 
225-6,  259,  336-7,  346-7,  359, 
370-1,  385-6,  416,  428,  464  sqq. 

Materialism,  reaction  against,  41 

Mathnavi,  the,  229 

Matter  regarded  as  living,  130,  170 

Matthews,  C.  H.  S.,  484 

Mattins,    140 

Maude,  A.,  43  n. 

Maurice,  Prof.  F.  D.,  489 

Max  Muller,  Prof.  R,  235,  247,  481 

Maxims  of  Piety  and  Christianity, 

487 
Mediaeval    books    on    prayer,    476, 

486 
Medical  writers,  5,  6 
Medicine,  modern,  and  prayer-heal- 
ing, 24,  142,  153,  275-6 
Meditation,   154,   164,  180,  185,  375- 
6,    426-7,    431-2,    435-6,    441-2, 
446,  447,  477,  488 
Mehta,       Manilal       Maneklal,       N. 
(Theosophist),  viii 
Essay  XVII.,  365-78 
Melchizedek,  269 
Mellone,  S.  H.  (Unitarian),  vii 

Essay  III.,  71-106 
Memorials  of  Christian  Life,  486 
Mental  prayer,  207,  213,  452,  486 

working,  methods  of,  412-13 
Menzies,  Prof.  Allan,  483 
Mercury,  serpents  on  staff  of,  332  n. 
Meredith,  George,  41,  65 
Mesopotamia,   129,  440 
Method  in  Prayer,  488 
Method  of  Prayer,  A,  483 
Method  of  Divine  Government,  30, 

31,  488 
Methods  and  Aims   of  Anarchism, 

2g6n. 
Methods  of  prayer,  proved,  32-4. 
extraordinary,  34 
and  rules,  423-58 
Meyer,  Dr.  F.  B.,  483 
Micklem,  N.,  484 
Middlemarch,  60-61 


INDEX 


515 


Migne,  the  Abbe,  477,  485 

Milan,  440,  478 

Milligan,   Dr.  George,  488 

Milner,  Joseph,   232 

Milton,   John,   399,    491 

Mind  the  basis  of  reality,  133 
and  modern  medicine,  142-3 
controls  the  bodj-,  326 
in  animals  and  plants,  327 
the    evolving   power    in    universe, 

Z^l,  373-4 

power,  385 

the  highest  good,  406 
Miracle,  Nature  and  Authority   of, 

484 
"Miracles  do  not  happen,"  112,  134 
Miraculous  element,  29,  30,  31,  224, 
286-7,  316-17,  388,  414,  415-16 
Missal,  The,  208,  215  sq.,  218-20 
Missale   Romanuvi,  478 
Missionaries,  5 
Missions,  Prayer  and,  66,  318,  487 

Essay  XI.,  263-78 
Moberly,  Dr.  R.  C,  489 
Model  prayer,  a,  206-07.     See  also 

Lord's  Prayer 
Modern  Miracle,  The,  177 
Modernity  of  the  essays,  14 
Mohammedan  writers,  6,  10 

influence,  140,  154,  354,  357,  360 

prayers,  229 
Molinos,  Dr.  Miguel  de,  451-2,  454 
Momerie,  Dr.  A.  W.,  489 
Monasterion,  439 
Monastic   prayer,  439-42 
Money,  prayers  for,  370-1 
Mongolia,  231 

Montaubon,  Prof.  Bois,  174 
Montgomery,  James,  491 
Montpellier,    Professor.     See    Saba- 

tier,  P. 
Momimcnta      Ecclesiae      Liturgica, 

477 

Moody,  D.  L.,  489 

Moral  Control  of  Nervous  Disor- 
ders. Religion  and  Medicine, 
491 

Morality,  in  Buddhism,  431.  See 
also   Ethics 

Moravian  liturgy,  478 

l\'Iorison,  E.  P.,  488 

Morning  offering,  205 

Mortification,  457 

Moses,  178,  204,  229 
in  Turkish  lore,  266,  332  n,  354 

Moses  the  Libyan,  442-4 

Motion,  product  of  time  and  space, 
246 

Mott,  Dr.  John  R.,  488 


Moule,  Bp.  H.  C.  G.,  483 

Mount  Athos,  451 

Mount  Izia,  440 

Mozart,  398 

Muirside  of  Kinnell,   ix-xi 

Miillcr,  Life  of  George,  322 

Murphy,      Jeremiah      P.      (Roman 

Catholic),    Essay    VIII.,    201- 

20 
Murray,  Dr.  Andrew,  322,  488 
Must  and  ought  in  O.  and   N.  T., 

265-7 
My  Life  in  Christ,  487 
My  Pilgrimage  to  I  Vise  Men  of  the 

East.  231 
Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  41,  48 
Mysteries  in  the  Rosary,  213-14 
Mysteries,  On  the,  370  n. 
Mystic  manna,  438 
Mystic  Way,  The,  498-9 
Mystical  Element  in  Religion,  490 
Mystical  thought,   i,  2,   19,  79,   137- 

8,  154,  164,  241-62,  375,  441,  44&- 

58 
Mysticism  (Underbill),  490-1 
Mysticism    and   Magic    in    Turkey, 

229  n. 
Mystics'  Prayer,  The   (Sharp),  491 

Naboth,  239 

Name,  influence  of  repeating  a,  391 
Narses,  440,  446-7 
Nation,  E.  Burke  on  the,  147 
Nation,   prayer   for    the,   66-8,    139, 
297-8,    311,    376,    399-401,    464, 
469.     See  also  State 
Natural  Theology   (Chalmers),  29- 

30,  31,  482 
Naturalism,  9 
Nature,  order  of,  27-9 

a  reservation,  29-30 

material   world   closed  to  prayer, 
30 

prayer-force  to  be  included  in,  31 

conquered  by  obedience,  75 

and  anger,  236 

made  by  God,  244-5 

prays.  249,  339,  360 

atrophy  in,  340 

not  to  be  confined  to  present  ex- 
perience, 387  sqq. 

interpreted  by  soul,  390 

non-normal,  399 

the   highest  good,   405 

Prakriti   (—not-self),  427-8 
Nature  of  prayer,   1 10-16,  463 
Nature  of  True  Prayer,  490 
Nayadon,  Sarojeni,  491 
Ndoria,  319 


5i6 


INDEX 


Neale,  Dr.  J.  M.,  478 

Neander,  Dr.  Augustus,  486 

Necessity  of  uniting  Prayer  with 
Performance  for  the  success  of 
Missions,  487 

Need  of  prayer,  464-5 
sense  of,  468 

Neglect  of  past  intellectual  treas- 
ures,  15 

Neo-Platonists,  439,  451 

Nestle,  Eberhard,  437 

Nestorian   Church,   440 
monks,  441 

Neurotic,  142,  177 

New  Caledonians,  225 

New  Energies  in  Creation  (of. 
Bergson),  28,  37 

New  Jerusalem,  348 

New  Liturgy  for  use  in  Free 
Churches,   A,  481 

New  Testament  and  Zoroaster, 
227-8 

New  Thought,  323-49,  4S8 

New  Thought  from   South  Africa, 

323-49 
New  Thought  writers,  6,  10,  14 
Newman,  J.  H.,  Cardinal,  215-16 
New  Zealand,  4,  11.     See  also  Aus- 
tralasia 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  160 
Nicene    and    Post-Nicene    Fathers, 

Select  Library  of,  485 
Nicolai,  485 
Nightingale,  B.,  482 
Nineteenth    Century;    Prayers,    476, 

487-8 
Nirvana,  240 
Nitria,  440 

Noble  Path,  the,  431-5 
Non-Christian  forms  of  prayer,  476, 

481-2 
Nonconformist  writers,  7,  10 
"Not  my  will  but  Thine,"  44,   77, 

90,  91,    135,    165,    179,  205,   245, 

249,  255,  262,  330,  394 
Notes  of  availing  prayer,  466-70 
Notre  Dame  de  Fourviere,  177 
Noumenon,  Divine,  257 
Novalis,  133 

Obassi,  225 

Obedience,  457 

Objections,  166-71 

Objective  effect  of  prayer,  165 

Objects  of  prayer,  156-8,  163-6,  345, 

348,     444.    See    also     Material 

blessings 
Old  Catholic  Liturgy,  475,  480 
Oliphant,  Laurence,  484 


Om,  meditation  on,  426 

Omaha,  the,  227 

Omnipresence  of  God,  186,  187 

Omniscience  of   man,  247-8 

On  the  Old  Road,  484 

One  Hundred  Short  Prayers,  483 

Orchard,  Dr.  W.  E.,  487 

Order  of  the  Service  of  the  Congre- 
gation, Of  the,  478 

Ordines  Romania,  478 

Ordo  Romanus  Primus,  ^7y 

Oriental  religions,  S 
writers,  6,  10,  13 
ascetical  prayers,  34,  154 
Conception     of      Prayer,     Essay 

XVIL,  365^79 
See  also  India,  Mohammedanism, 
Buddhism,  Confucius 

Origen,  211,  438,  485,  488 

Origin  of  Evil,  489 

Origin  of  Religion  and  Language, 
228  n. 

Our  Father  in  Heaven,  488 

Our  Lady's  Primer,  482 

Outlines   of   a   Philosophy    of   Re- 
ligion, quoted,  43 

Out  of  the  Deep,  491 

Outstanding    Controversy    between 
Science  and  Faith,  485 

Overton,  Canon,  Dr.  J.  H.,  487 

Owen,  Robert,  238  n. 

Oxenden,  Abp.  A.,  483 

Oxenham,  John,  491 

Pagan,  G.  Hilda,  viii 

Pagan  religions,  139-41 

Pain    as    discipline,    24.    See    also 

Disease,   Suffering 
Painting,  influence  of,  214 
Palestine,  440 
Palladius,  440,  441 
Pantheism,  9,   14,   17,    18 

and  prayer  inconsistent,  44 
Paradise,  The  (Palladius),  440,  441, 

442 
Paradise  of  the  Soul,  486 
Pare,  Ambroise,  143,  178 
Paris,  Prefecture  statistics,  172-3 

saved  by  prayer,  296 
Paris,  Talks  in,  359  «.,  364 
Pascal,  158 

Passing  of  Arthur,  159,  491 
Pasteur,   160,   168 
Pater  Noster   (Bridges),  491 
Paterson,    Dr.    W.    P.    (Church   of 

Scotland),  Editor,  Preface  and 

Essay.  I.,   1-37 
Path  of  Prayer,  The,  491 
Patience,  457 


INDEX 


517 


Patrick,  St.,  139 

Patristic     books     on     prayer,     476, 

48s 
Patrologia  Graeca,  477 
Latma,  477,  485,  588 
Paul,  St.,  36,  51,  63,  115,  117-18,  158, 
172,  180,  187,  243,  255,  284,  305, 
22^,  339,  343,  405,  406,  408,  410, 
411,  417,  446 
Paul's  Prayers  and  other  Sermons, 

489 
Peace,  based  on  righteousness,  68- 
70 
prayers  for,  362-3,  445-7 
of  prayer,  463 
Penitence,    335.     Sec    also    Confes- 
sion 
Pentecost,  209 

Perfection,  240,  245,  420,  454 
Pericles,  149 

Perry,   Bp.  Wm.  Stevens,  479 
Perry,  Canon  Dr.  W.,  479,  489 
Perseverance,  33 
Persia,  351-64,  445 
Persian  poets  quoted,  81,  227 
Personality  the  most  important  ele- 
ment  in   doing   work   of   world 
and  this  ever  close  to  God,  37 
implied,  44 
spiritual  personality  man's  work, 

51,  73 

part  of  the  great  Spirit,  245,  257 

mind  and,  327 
Peshawar,  435-6 
Peter  of  Alcantara,  St.,  486 
Peter,   St.,   oflfice  and  mission,  205, 

217,  311 
Petitionary    prayer,    21-25 

necessity  and  validity,  21 

legitimate  and  answered,  21 

spiritual  (subjective),  and  mate- 
rial boons,  21-2 

conveyed  through  spiritual  chan- 
nel, 22 

conflict  of  opinion  on  material 
blessings,  22 

reflex  action  the  main  response 
to,  23 

difference  of  lower  and  higher 
religions  on  this,  23,  43,  76 

not  the  whole,  76,  77 

not  begging,  77 

not  so  wide  as  faith  in  God,  82, 
89,  no 

insignificance  of  individual  no 
hindrance  to,  86-7 

not  to  change  God's  will,  but 
to  achieve  possible  things,  88- 
90 


Petitionary  prayer  (contd.)  — 
must  be  according  to  God's  will, 

116-17 
in  name  of  Christ,  1 17-19 
subjects  of,   119 
more  than  supplication,   127-8 
an  expenditure  of  energy,  174 
not  true  pr^ver,  259-60,  281.  453 
nature  and  objects  of,  344-8 

Pctrucci,   Bishop  of  Jesi,  455 

Pharisee,    141,   204,   207 

Phenomena,  matter  as  divine  tliongh 
not  so  real  as  the  spiritual,  257 
shadows  of  reality,  248 

Phillips,  the  late  A.  Forbes  (Church 
of  England),  vii 
Essay  V.,   125-50 

Philosophical  types  of  thought,  7 

Philosophy  and  the  Incarnation,  134 

Philosophy  of  Effort,  166 

Philosophy  of  Religion,  224 

Philosophy  of  Upanishads,  425  n. 

Physical  ego,  245 

Physics,  244 

Pierson,  Dr.,  322 

Pilgrimage  (Raleigh),  491 

Pilgrimage  of  Etheria  {or  Sylvia), 

477 
Pillar  of  the  Cloud,  491 
Pitcairn,  W.  P.,  483 
Pitman,  G.  J.  W.,  481 
Pius   v.,   Pope,  212,  478 
Pius  X.,  Pope,  212 
Planes  of  being,  368-9 
Plato,  106,  139,  375,  445,  446 
Plummer,  C,  482 
Poets  on  prayer,  476,  491 
Political   life,   141 
Pontifical,  The,  215 
Pontus,  440 
Pope,  Alexander,  491 
Pope,  Very  Rev.  Hugh,  486 
Positivism,   159,   it)i 
Postures,  355-7 
Poulain,  R.  P.  Aug.,  490-1 
Power  of  Silence,  490 
Power  through  Prayer,  322 
Practice    of   the   Presence   of   God, 

The,  487 
Pragmatism,  149 
Prakriti   (=  not-self),  428-9 
Prayer,  484 

Prayer  Changes  Things,  322 
Prayer  and  the  Contemporary.  Mind, 

Essay   I.,   by   W.    P.    Paterson, 

Its  Meaning,  Reality  and  Power, 
Essay  II.,  by  S.  McComb,  39- 
70 


5i8 


INDEX 


Prayer  (conid.)  — 

and  Experience,  Essay  III.,  by 
S.  H.  Mellone,  71-106 

Its  Scope  and  Limitations,  Essay 
IV.,  by  E.  J.  Hawkins,   107-24 

Chaplain's  Thoughts,  A,  Essay  V., 
by  A.  Forbes  Phillips,  125-50 

A  Modern  Apology,  Essay  VI., 
by  C.  A.  Bourquin,  151-80 

Greater  Ventures,  Essay  VII.,  by 
J.  L.  E.,  181-99 

Guidance  of  Church,  Essay  VIII., 
by  J.  P.  Murphy,  201-20 

Anthropological  Point  of  View, 
Essay  IX.,  by  Edward  Law- 
rence, 221-40 

Science  and  Mysticism,  Essay  X., 
by  Sydney  T.  Klein,  241-62 

Faith  of  a  Missionary,  Essay  XL, 
by  W.  Arthur  Cornaby,  263-78 

Spiritual  Law  and  Absolute  Real- 
ity, Essay  XII.,  by  C.  Herman 
Lea,  279-98 

Autobiography,  of  an  Evangelist, 
Essay  XII.,  by  Charles  Mason, 
299-311 

Prevailing  Prayer,  Essay  XIV., 
by  E.  Kennedy,  313-22 

New  Thought  from  South  Africa, 
Essay  XV.,  by  E.  Douglas 
Tayler,  323-49 

A  Study  of  Bahai  Prayer,  Essay 
XVI.,  by  J.  E.  Esslemont,  351- 
64 

An  Oriental  Conception  of  Prayer, 
Essay  XVII.,  by,  Manilal 
Maneklal  N.   Mehta,  365-79 

In  the  Light  of  the  Divine  Imma- 
nence, Essay  XVIIL,  by  Pandit 
Bishan  Dass,  381-401 

The  Claim  of  Right  Thinking, 
Essay  XIX.,  by  F.  L.  Rawson, 
403-21 

Rules  and  Methods,  Essay  XX., 
by  William  Loftus  Hare,  423-58 

Impressions  and  Reflections,  Es- 
say   XXL,    by    David    Russell, 

459-71 
Prayer  and  work,  22,  24,  32,  48-50, 
154,   317-18 
not  superfluous,  31 
and  predestination,  31,   194 
and  uniformity  of  nature,  31 
and    telepathy,    32,    56-7,    99-100, 

as  seeking  a  selfless   ideal,  33 
through  Christ,  33,  82,  180,  341-2, 

354 
the   conscious    direction   of  mind 


Prayer  and  work  (contd.)  — 

to  God,  33,  77,  79-80 
may  be  answered  in  some  future 

existence,  35 
or  by  giving  some  higher  good, 

35 

modern  re-discovery  of,  41,  73 

defined,  42-3 

pre-suppositions   of,  42-8 

implies  personality  in  God  and 
man,  44 

organic  connection  between  hu- 
man and  Divine,  45,  420 

sometimes  imperative,  46 

normal,  45-7 

and  the  world-order,  46-8,  55 

and  self-suggestion,  48 

subjective  and  objective,  49,  163, 
165-6,  259,  373 

is  dynamic,  49,  128 

gives  energy,  51 

simplifies  and  unifies,  52 

unifies  the  divided  self,  52 

involves    confession,   52 

and  freedom  of  the  soul,  53 

as  mediation,  54-8 

and  "  special  blessings,"  57 

implies  spending  vital  energy,  57- 
8 

and  sickness,  58-65 

not  omnipotent,  59 

a  great  mystery,  61 

and  unknown  laws,  62 

limitations  of,  63-5,  92 

for  the  dead,  65,  362,  489-90 

dedicates    whole    world    to    God, 

65-9 
a  school  of  discipline,  67 
against  war  and  for  peace,  67-9, 

104-5,  119-20,  363 
personal  mental  act,  74,  75 
is  desire,  75-6 
an  ofiFering  to  God,  77-81 
not  annihilation  of  desire,  78 
a  discipline  of  desire,  80 
providence    and    law,   81-90,    155, 

465-6 
more  than  asking,  89 
solved  by  life,  93-4 
as  healing,  95-9 
intercessory,  99-103,  122-3 
strengthen   our   own   endeavours, 

loo-i 
common,   103 
a  natural  necessity,  103-4 
either    greatest    faculty    or    delu- 
sion, 109 
answer  little  expected,  109 
by  No  as  well  as  Yes,  109 


INDEX 


519 


Prayer  and  work  (contd.)  — 

not  privilege  of  few,  no 

nature  of,  1 10-16 

not  to  violate  law,  1 14-15 

answer  given  through  men,  115- 
16 

and  faith,  120-2 

associated  with  all  changes 
through  war,  127-8 

logic  of,  128 

universality  of,  129 

not  an  invention  of  man,  129-30 

thought  directed  to  definite  ob- 
jective, 130 

Christ's  teaching  on,   132 

witness  of  experience  to,  133,  134 

the  Divine  sap  within  us,  133 

not  impossible,  134 

a  moral  force,  beginning  in  God, 
135,  308 

unifies  the  race,  136 

our  noblest  action,  136 

and  mysticism,  136-7 

is  Jacob's  ladder,  137,  360 

and  a  good  life,  139 

and    the     State,     139-40,    208-11, 

375-7 
daily,   140,  355,  358 
and  business,  141-2 
and  health,   144-5 
in  war,  145-7,  347-8 
in  Parliament,  146-7 
in  national  life,  147-8 
and  pragmatism,  148 
and  the  after-life,  150 
and  progress,   150 
present  time   not   favourable   for, 

153 
importance  of,  153 
thought  the  loftiest  form  of,  154 
unanswered,  155,  283-4,  319-20 
objects  of,  156,  163-6 
no  limits  to,  156 
and  evil,  156,  198-9 
and  pardon,  157 
gives  immortal  hope,  158 
resembles  instinct,  158 
reality  of,  158-61 
and  science,   159 
cannot    be    demonstrated    like    a 

theorem,  161 
and  the  sub-conscious,   161-3 
and  the  supernatural,   163 
critical  objections  to,   166-71 
and  immutability,  166-7,  210 
and  God's  freedom,  166 
and  laws  of  nature,  167-9 
understood  by  dynamic  theory  of 

universe,   169-71 


Prayer  and  work   (contd.)  — 
Christ  affirms  power  of,    171 
motto     "  true      prayer     will      be 

granted,"   173-4 
law  of,  173-4 
mode   of    answer   to,    not   always 

known,   174 
moral  miracles  of,  examples,  175- 

7 
physical  miracles  of,   176-9 
conditions  of  answers  to,   179-80 
we    must    wait    for    answer,    184, 

193 
what  the  answer  is,   185 
we  the  bearers  of  answers,  193 
angelic  ministry  in,   194 
in  secret,   195 
simplicity  of,   199 
man's  first  duty,  203 
spiritual    communion    with    God, 

204 
whence  learned,  204 
by     the     individual,     vocal     and 

mental,  205-7 
watching  co-essential,  207 
and  faith  and  charity,  207 
ground-work  of  all  progress,  209 
seed  of  all  virtue,  210 
and  our  whole  life,  210 
and  the  Church,  211-12,  377-8 
and  the   Mass,  217-20.  234 
among  uncivilised  man,  224-7 
a  test  of  worth  of  religion,  224  sq. 
for  material  gain,  226,  262-3 
of  Zoroaster,  228 
of  a  Muslim  shepherd,  229 
of  Mohammed,  229 
of  Buddhism,  230-1 
of  Savonarola,  231 
of  Santa  Teresa,  233 
in  the  Prayer  Bool^  232 
in  Argentina,  234 
ethical   significance   of,   235-40 
and  racial  differences,  237-8 
and  deliverance  from  evil,  237 
without    ceasing,    239,    318,    407, 

417.  418-19 
meaning    not    yet    rightly    appre- 
ciated, 243 
true  pra,>'€r,  244,  249,  262 
depends  on  knowledge  of  will  of 

God,  250 
is  love  in  action,  256-7 
for  weather,  259 
what  true  prayer  is,  258-62 
no  one  else  to  go  to  but  God,  260 
a  natural  act,  261 
difficulty    caused     by     immensity, 

261 


520 


INDEX 


Prayer  and  work  (contd.)  — 

increases      with      our      spiritual 

growth,     262 
required  by  an  authoritative  God, 

265 
Jewish  views  on,  266 
not  coaxing,  267 
persistent,  267 
child-Hke,  267-8 
in  China,  268-9 
in  calamity,  269-70,  271 
and  infidelity,  270  n. 
more  earnest,  270 
comes   to   modern  as   well   as   to 

ancient  prophets,  271 
a  force,  272,  278,  290-1 
is  God's  opportunity,  271-2 
source  of,  272 
answer    comes    to    souls    full    of 

zeal,  272 
and  preaching,  274 
independent    of    media    such    as 

man  and  time  and  space,  273-4 
and  disease,  274-5,  293^,  309-11 
influences  distant  minds,  274-5 
importunate,  275-6 
and  the  physical  universe,  277 
primarily   in   moral  and   spiritual 

spheres,  278 
desire  to  recognise  God,  281 
conventional    and   higher    use   of, 

281-5 
these    depend    on   our   conception 

of  God,  281-5 
reveals  harmony  with  God,  285 
not  an  illusion,  286 
a  proof  of  reality  of  God,  286 
operation  of  spiritual  law,  287 
can  remove  all  ills,  287 
and  business,  288,  292-3 
a  protection  in  war,  288-90 
corporate,     290-2,     338-9,     348-9, 

362 
stands    for    vital    connection    be- 
tween God  and  man,  290-1 
human  limitations  to  exercise  of, 

295 
saves  Paris,  296 
of     practical     value     in     world's 

progress,  297 
saves  a  soldier,  301  sqq. 
answered    by    money,    308,    308-9 
kings,      statesmen,      etc.,     should 

know     the     typical     examples, 

307-8 
method  of,  309,  453 
essential   to  a  church   ain4  ?i  ng' 

tion,  310-11 
union  in,  310 


Prayer  and  work  (contd.)  — 
the  food  of  the  soul,  317 
simplest  aspect,  317 
stated  times  of,  317 
a  battle,  318 
and  rest,  318 
in  company,  318 
in  name  of  Christ,  318 
effect  on  life,  318 
God's  will  to  the  uttermost,  320 
has  no  space  limit,  319 
demands    surrendered    life,    319- 

20 
for     conversion     of     individuals, 

320-1 
service  grows  out  of,  322 
speech  with  God,  325 
in  legal  sense,  request,  325 
laws  of,  325-6 
psychology  of,  325 
beginning  of,  333 
listening  to  God,  334 
posture  in,  335,  355-7,  430 
penitence,  335 
harmony  essential  to,  338 
healing,  338,  361 
reasons  for  failure  in,  339 
for  perfection,  340 
of  contemplation  and  silence,  344 
of  request,  344 
for  others,  344 
love  the  link  in,  345 
and  wisdom,  346 
for  health,  346 
for  material  blessings,  346-7,  385- 

6 
a  sacrament,  356 
chanted,  357 
extempore,  358 
answered,  361 
joyous,  363 

for  steadfastness,  364 
and  materialism,  367  sqq. 
a  means  of  salvation,  368,  383 
collective,  369 
concordant,  369 
union  through,  369 
classified,  370 
for  knowledge,  372-3 
moves  higher  forces  in  man,  374- 

5,  .378 
meditation  the  highest  form,  375- 

6 
expression  of  love,  375 
heart  to  heart  talk,  383 
unfolds   the   spiritual   mind,   384 
a  desire  force,  385 
how  obtained,  385-6 
to  induce  resignation,  387 


INDEX 


521 


Prayer  and  work  (contd.)  — 
not  to  upset  the  laws  of  the  uni- 
verse, 387 
instrument  to  develop  will-power, 

388 
demands  self-surrender,  388 
reveals  the  soul,  391 
for  good  and  evil,  392-3 
teaches  philosophy  of  life,  397 
in  the  hour  of  death,  398 
abolish   racial   considerations,   400 
can  do  all  things  through  Christ, 

40s 
and  protection  at  the  front,  407-8 
how  to  pray,  414-20 
troubles    disappear   through,   415 
proved   by   results,   415-16 
causes  matter  to  disappear,  421 
as  volitional  religion,  430 
Buddhist,  431-3 
the  Lord's,  436-8 
the    receiving    of    Divine    Spirit, 

438 
monastic  and  contemplative,  439- 

to  keep  devils  away,  441 
methods  of  monastic,  441-2 
rules  of,  444 

of  interior  silence,  444,  456-7 
•  object  purely  spiritual,  444 
perpetual  recollection  of  God,  445 
fruit  of   "  consideration,"  447 
ecstasy  the  final  fruit  of,  448 
and  desolation,  448 
of  quiet,  451-2 
resignation    of    will    includes    all, 

452 
united  and  systematic  condemned, 

and  prohibited,  452 
real  and  inestimable  value  of,  461 
companionship    with    the    Spirit, 

461,  462 
revealing  the  eternal,  462 
an  illumination,  462-3 
types  of,  462 
nature  and  gain  of,  463 
need  of,  463-5 
an  action,  463 
notes  of  availing,  466-70 
qualities  essential  to,  467-70 
creative  power  of,  470.     See  also 

God,     Christ,     Lord's     Prayer, 

Material  Blessings,  Petitionary, 

Work 
For  Works  on  Prayer  see  Biblio- 

graph,>',  475-91 
Prayer    (A.    C.    Benson),   491,    (H. 

Coleridge),  491,    (Lynch),  491. 

(Trench),  491 


Prayer  and  Action.  487 
I'rayer  and  Natural  Lazv,  485 
Prayer  and  some  of  its  Difhculties, 

487 
Prayer  and  the  Contemplative  Life, 

486 
Prayer  Book  of  Serapion,  477 
Prayer  Book  (Scotland),  479 
Prayer  for  the  Past,  A,  491 
Prayer  in  Relation  to  Lazv,  484 
Prayer:    its    Nature    and    Practice, 

488 
Prayer  Life,  The,  488 
Prayer  of  Quiet,  451-2 
Prayer  of  the  Kingdom.  The,  488 
Prayer,  Penitence,  Holy   Commun- 
ion  (Pusey),  482 
Prayer  that   teaches  to   pray.   The. 

488 
Prayer-force,  31-2,  47 
not  found  in  all,  but  needs  to  be 

developed,  2>i 
depends  for  success  on  character, 
54,  77,  273-4,  ^7,  278 
Prayer-healing,    24,    25.    See    also 
Faith-healing,      Christian      Sci- 
ence 
Prayers     by     Geo.     Walker,     x-xi, 

483 
Prayers,  family,  482-3 
Prayers     of     Scripture,    32-3.    See 

also  Christ 
Prayers,  The  Two  Spheres Arc 

they  Two?  484 
Prayers,     with     a     Discourse     on 

Prayer,  481 
Preaching,  274 
Preccs  Privatae,  482 
Predestination,    little    discussed,    19, 

30,  31.     See  also  Foreknowledge 
Prefaces,   proper,  217 
Presbyterian   Church,  America,  480 
England,  480 
Scotland,  479-80 
Presbyrterian      writers       (including 

other   Protestant  Churches),  6, 

7,  10,  II,  14 
services,  475,  479-80 
Present     Controversy     on    Prayer, 

484 
Pre-suppositions  of  prayer,  42-8 
Prevailing  Prayer,  489 
Priestley,  Joseph,  481 
Priests'  Prayer  Book,  483 
Primitive  Worship  and  the  Prayer 

Book,  479 
Pringle-Pattison,  A.  Seth,  488 
Private  prayer,  34,  482 
Procter,  F.,  479 


522 


INDEX 


Prophecy  of  Malachi  fulfilled,  218- 

Prophets,  the,  270-1,  2'JZ,  354  sqq. 

Protection  in  war,  288-go 

Prove  all  things,  421 

Providence,  81,  sqq.  155,  236 

Providence  and  Life,  489 

Psalms,  270-2,  273,  441-2,  491,  479- 
80 

Psychic  Treatment  of  Nervous  Dis- 
orders, 61 

Psychology  of  group-life,  105.  See 
also  W.  James,  Church,  Social 

Psychology  of  the  Emotions,  237  n. 

Psychology  of  prayer,  325 

Public  prayer,  137 

Public  School  Prayers,  483 

Puenta  del  Inca,  234-5 

Purgatory,  21,  26,  216.  See  also  In- 
termediate state ;  Dead,  prayers 
for 

Purgatory,  Treatise  on,  489 

Purification,  188 

Puritans,  233 

Purity,  457 

Pursuit  of  Holiness,  The,  487 

Purusha   (=self),  428 

Pusey,  Dr.  E.  B.,  482 

Pythagoras,  129 

npoffevxv,  278 

Quakerism,  457-8 
Quatrefages,  160 
Questionnaire,  3 

in  Essay  II.,  48,  51 

Text  of,  70 
Quietism,  78,  450-8 
Quietness,  445 
Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer,  222 
Quietude,  451,  454 
"  Qui  laborat,  oral,"  491 

Rabban  Cyprian,  445 

Rajas  quality.  (=  passion,  foulness), 
370,  428.  Raja  yoga  {i.e.  kingly 
union)  is  quite  distinct  from 
the  rajasie  guna  or  quality 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  491 

Ramsden,  C.  H.,  483 

Rawson,  F.  L.,  Essay  XIX.,  403- 
21,  490 

"Readers"  (=  official)  impressions, 
Essay  I.,  passim 

Reality,  absolute,  279-98 

Reality  of  prayer,  48-55,  161,  286-7 

Realm  of  Prayer,  The,  487 

Recent  discoveries  concerning  Early 
Christian  Worship,  477 

Receptivity,  467 


Recessional,  491 
Recollectedness,  451,  454 
Reconciliation,  337-8 
Reconciliation  hetiveen  Science  and 

Faith,  485 
Reformed     Church     Liturgies     and 

Services,  475,  478-81 
Reign  of  Law.    See  Law 
Reign  of  Law,  484 
Relations  of  Science  and  Religion, 

.484 
Religions     of     Primitive     Peoples, 

223  n. 
Religion  and  Medicine,  490 
Religion  in  everyday  life,  223-4 

thrown  overboard,  238 
Religions   of    writers    of   essays,   3, 

10 
Religious  orders,  207 
Relton,  Frederic,  ix,  487,  Index 
Remey,  Chas.  Mason,  364 
Renunciation,  2>i7,  400 
Renouvier,  170 
Repentance  unto  life,  489 
Requests,  491 
Resignation,  454,  457 
Rc-Statcmcnt  and  Re-Union,  loi 
Resurrection,  the,  218 
Revelations  of  Divine  Love,  486 
Reverence,  467 
Revised    Prayer    Book     (Theistic), 

481 
Revival,  religious,  376 
Revolt  of  Islam,  240 
Rhodes,  Cecil,  41,  50 
Ribot,  237 
Richard     IIL,     King,     Richmond's 

Prayer,  491 
Rickaby,  Father,  485 
Riddle  of  the  Universe,  168 
Right  thinking,  403-21 
Rig-Veda,  425 
Ritual,  The,  215-16 
Rituale  Armenorum,  477 
Rivers,  Dr.  W.  H.  R.,  225 
Roberts,  Dr.  Alex.,  477,  484,  485 
Robertson,  F.  W.,  xi,  83,  489 
Robinson,  Canon  Dr.  A.  W.,  484 
Robinson,  Fr.  Paschal,  486 
Robinson,  W.  P.,  483 
Rogation  Sunday,  491 
Rolland,  Romain,  46 
Roman   Catholic  writers,  6,   10,   11, 

14 
eschatology,  21 

liturgies,    475,    477-8.    See    also 
Missal 
Romanes,  Dr.  G.  J.,  484 
Rome,  148,  348,  440,  453 


INDEX 


523 


Rosary,  213 

Rossctti,   Christina   Georgina,   491 

Rossetti,  Dante  Gabriel,  270 

Rousseau,  153 

Rothc,  166-75 

Rothwell,  F.,  ix 

Rules    and    Methods,    Essay    XX., 

4^3-58 
Ruskin,  John,  398,  484 
Russell,     David,     of     the     Walker 

Trust,    (Church    of    Scotland), 

Editor,  viii 
Essay  XXL,  459-71 
Russia,  477 
Ruvsbroek,  451 
Ryiand,  J.  E.,  486 


Sabatier,     Auguste,     definition     of 

prayer,  42,  224 
Sabatier,  Paul,  of  Montpellier,  165, 

170,  171,   172,  173,  178 
Sabbath,  218 
Sacra  Privata,  482 
Sacramcntum  Lconianttm,  477 
Sacred    Books    of    the    East,    475, 

481 
Salvation,  man's  purpose  here,  36 
hence  his  equipment  against  diffi- 
culties, 36 
the   things   he   has   already  done, 

on  the  whole  he  has  justified 
God's  confidence  in  him,  36 

this  only  part  of  the  truth ;  com- 
munion and  union  with  God 
still  necessary,  36 

alternations  of  revival  and  decay, 

37,  173 
by  works,  190-1,  332-3.  381-3 
understanding  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture, 383 

Salvation  Army  writers,  6,  10 

Samadhi,  431 

Samsara  (a  corruption  of  Sansar  = 
transmigration,  the  world,  uni- 
verse, mundane  existence, 
worldly  interests,  world  of  illu- 
sion), 431 

Sankhya,  427,  429 

Santa  Claus,  259 

Sanctification,  188 

Sanctification  by  the  Truth,  604 

Sanctuary  Series,  482 

Saphir,  A.,  488 

Saragossa,  453 

Saradanda-Sutta,  432  n. 

Satan,  410,  -^41^  4^?,  See  also  Ser- 
pent 


Satvic  quality  (=  goodness,  virtue), 

370,  428 
Saul  ( Browning),  491 
Savages  and  religion,  223,  and  Es- 
say  IX.  generally 
Savonarola,  231 
Scarlet  Woman,  348 
Scete,   desert  of,  443 
Schiller,  398 

Science,  type  of  thought,  7,  8 
a  religious  mediator,   129-34 
now  revolutionised,  130,  153,   159- 

61 
its  final  word  not  spoken,  169 
advancing  in  complexity,   169 
and  prayer,  235,  310,  325,  343 
a    meeting-place    with    mysticism, 

241-62 
and  religion,  248-78 
exploring  man's  powers,  384 
discoveries  in,  how  made,  385 
non-moral,  399-401 
should    learn    language    of    love, 

400 
regards  thought  as  an  electric  cur- 
rent, 409 
apologetics  and  prayer,  476,  484-5 
Science  and  Prayer,  484 
Science     and     Faith,     Outstanding 

Controversy  between,  485 
Scientific  Religion,  484 
Sclater,  Dr.  J.  R.  P.,  489 
Scope    and    limitations    of    prayer, 

107-24 
Scope  of  prayer,  19-26 
kinds  of  prayer,  analysis  of,  116- 

19 
Scotland,  4,  9,  10,  479 
Scott,  C.  A.  Anderson,  488 
Scottish     Covenanters    and    special 

providence,  86 
Scottish  Church  Services,  475,  479- 

80 
Scottish  Liturgy,  479,  480 
Scottish  Liturgy:  its  value  and  his- 
tory, 479 
Scougall,  Henry,  487 
Scripture  basis  of  essays,  27 
Scroggie,  W.  Graham,  488 
Sculpture,  influence  of,  214 
Seabury     of     Connecticut,     Bishop, 

479 
Sears,  A.  L.,  49 
Secret  prayer,  195 
Secretain,  175 
Secularism,  310 
Seeley,  Sir  John,  45 
Segneri,  Father   Paul,  438,  455 
Selbie,  Dr.  John  A.,  223  n. 


524 


INDEX 


Select  Practical   Writings   of  John 

Knox,  486 
Self,  464,  465.     See  also  Experience 

and  Purusha 
Self-discipline,  468 
Selfless,  be,  420-1 
Self-mastery,  425 
Self-regarding  and  altruistic  prayer, 

20-1 
Self-suggestion,    48-9,     95^^,    98-9, 

100.    See  also  Subjective 
Self-Training  in  Meditation.  488 
Self-Training  in  Prayer,  488 
Serapion,  Prayer  Book  of,  4yy 
Serenus,  Abbott,  443 
Serious  Call  to  a  Devout  and  Holy 

Life,  A,  487 
Sermons    (St.    Bernard),   447,   448- 

50  n. 
Sermon  on  Mount,  207,  287-8,  292- 

3,  436-7 
Sermons     on     Prayer,    476,    488-9. 

See  also  Lord's   Prayer 
Sermons     on     Prayer     Book     and 

Lord's  Prayer  (Maurice),  489 
Serpent,  331-2.     See  also  Satan 
Services  of  Prayer,  475-81 
Sesame  and  Lilies,  399 
Seventeenth    Century   Prayers,   476, 

48^7 

Sex  of  writers  of  essays,  3,  5,  6 

Seyman,  Bishop  G.  F.,  479 

Shakespeare,  316,  399,  406,  409,  491 

Shann,  G.  V.,  477 

Sharp,  William,  491 

Shelley,  240 

Shields,  Dr.  C.  W.,  480 

Short  Method  of  Prayer  and  Spir- 
itual Torrents,  486 

Sickness  and  prayer,  58-65,  293-6, 
309-11,  338,  484.  See  also  Dis- 
ease, Pain,  Healing,  Suffering 

Sidgwick,  Mrs.  H.,  56 

Silence,  Pozver  of,  490 

Silence,  prayer  of,  34,  186,  193,  444, 
445.  456-7,  457,  476,  490- 1 

Silent  Worship:  the  Way  of  Won- 
der, 490 

Simeon,  266 

Simon,  Jules,  172 

Simon  Magus,  311 

Simpson,  Prof.  J.  Y.,  114 

Sin,  confession  of,  26.  See  also 
Confession,  Penitence 

Singer,  S.,  481 

Sioux,  the,  226-7 

Sixteenth     Century     Prayers,     476, 

48^7 
Small,  Annie  H.,  483.  487 


Smith,  H.  Maynard,  488 

Smith,  Leonora  L.  Yorke,  490,  491 

Social   prayers,   34,    136,  476,  483-4 

order  based   on  force,  392 

also   on    utilitarian   morality,   392 

but  needs  piety,  also,  482 
Socialism,  238  n. 
Socialism  and  its  Perils,  238  n. 
Socrates,  134 
Soldiers,    Christian,    under    orders, 

266 
Soldier's  Prayer,  a,  57 
Solidarity  of  the  race,   137 
Solitude,  445,  455 
Some  Words  of  St.  Paul,  489 
Soul  energy,  272-3,  429 
Soul  of  man,  245 

shadow   of    real   personality,   244 
Souls  in  Action.  52 
Soul's  Prayer,  The,  491 
"  Soul's  sincere  desire,"  43,  80,  464 
Soul's  Travelling,  The,  491 
Spain,  455 

Spanish    Church    (Reformed),   Lit- 
urgy, 475,  480 
"  Special  blessings  "  under  O.T.  not 
now  thought  advisable,  57 

for  particular  individuals,  86 
Special    characteristics     of     bodies, 

252  sqq. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  45,  131,  160,  169, 

224  n. 
Spenser,  399 
Spinoza,   168,   176 
Spirit,  The,  488 
Spirit,   Holy,  visits  and  deserts,  37 

brooding  of  in  prayer,  43 

makes  intercession  for  us,  117 

our  real  personality,  244 

the  life-giver,  341 

fruit  of  the,  349 

pervades  all  Nature,  383-401 

supersubstantial    bread    identified 
with,  437-8 

works    through    material    things, 

464 
Spirit  of  man,  245,  384-5 
Spirit  of  Prayer,  The,  486 
Spiritual,  prayer  not  intellectual  and 

rational  but,  128 
wave  advancing  though  retarded 

by  war,  243-4 
Spiritual  Healing,  490 
Spiritual  Interpretation   of  Nature, 

114 
Spiritual  Issues  of  the  War,  Some, 

489 
Spiritual      Prayer^      from      many 

Shrines,  48^ 


INDEX 


525 


Spiritualism,  164,  178-9 

Spiritualistic  writers,  6,  10,  11 

Sprott,  Dr.  G.  W.,  480 

Srawley,  Arch.  J.  H.,  476 

St.  Andrews,  University  of,  v 

Stanley,  Sir  H.  M.,  41 

Star  of  the  IVest,  361 

State  gives  unity  to  group-life,  106 

and   prayer,   139-40,  291-2 

should  spiritually  educate,  392 

See  also  Nation 
Steadfastness,  364 
Stevens,  Miss  E.  S.,  359  ».,  360  n. 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  41,  483 
St.  Giles   Prayer  JBook,  480 
Stockmeycr,   Dr.,   177 
Stoics,  158-9 
Stokes,  Sir  G.  G.,  91-2 
Stoughton.  Dr.  John,  233 
Streeter,  Canon  B.  H'.,  lor,  104,  483, 

488 
Study  of  Comparatk'e  Religion,  103 
Study  of  Religion,  227  n. 
Subconscious,  the,  161-2,  188,  340-1, 

406 
Subjective  conditions  a  cause  of  un- 
answered prayer,  34 

and  objective  dispute,  49 

the  human  side  of  prayer,  y;^,  74 

effect  of  prayer,  163-4,  183.     See 
also  Self-suggestion 
Suez,  440 
Suffering,    337,    363-4,    397-9-    See 

also  Disease,  Pain,  Sickness 
Summa  contra  Gentiles,  486 
Summa    Theologica,    30,    485.     See 

also  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
Sun-worship,  225 
Sunday,  218 

Sunday  Afternoon  Prayers,  483 
Superconsciousness,  188 
Supernatural,  the,  162-3 
Superstition,  223 
Superstition  called  Socialism,   The, 

238  n. 
Supersubstantial   bread,  436-7,  449, 

450 
Sursum  Corda,  483 
Survival    of    fittest,    249,    261.    See 

also  Darwin 
Suso,  451 

Stispiria  Domestica,  483 
Sutras,  Yoga,  427 

of  Patau jali,  427,  429 
Svetasvatara  Upanishad,  429 
Swainson,  Dr.  C.  A.,  477 
Swedenborgian  writers,  6,  10 

Liturgy  for  the  New  Church,  /i^76, 
481 


Swete,  Dr.  H.  B.,  488 

Swetenham,  L.,  488 

Switzerland,     4,    g,     10.     See    also 

Bourquin 
Sylvii,  485 

Symbolism  still  required,  243  sqq. 
Symeon  of  Athos,  451 
Sympathetic    action,   250,   sqq.,   257, 

261 
Sympathy,  the  one  universal  power, 

256 
Syrian  liturgies,  475,  476-7 
Systematic  Theology,  487 
ff-n/ifiov,    175 

Tabernacle,  worship  of,  265 
Tables,  Analytical : 

I.  Countries  of  Origin  of  Es- 
says, 4,  5 
II.  Sex,  Vocation,  of  Writers, 
5 

III.  Religions,     Churches,     Or- 

ganisations, 6 

IV.  Types  of  Thought,  7 

V.  Proportion  of  Sex  and  Vo- 
cation   in    Countries    of 
Origin,  9 
VI.  Prominence     of     Religions, 
Churches,   etc.,   in   Coun- 
tries of  Origin,  10 
VII.  Prevalence     of     Types     of 
Thought  in  Countries  of 
Origin,  12 
VIII.  Prevalence     of     Types     of 
Thought  among  Churches, 
etc.,  13 
Tables  of  Bible  study,  303-7 
Tabriz,  353 
Tabu,  237 

T'ai  Ming  T'a,  Pagoda  of,  231-2 
Talbot,  P.  Amaury,  225 
Talmund,  the,  266 
Tamas  =  darkness,    ignorance,    370, 

428 
Tapas  =:  heat,  fire  (an  instrument 
of  self-torture),  and  so  penance, 
mortification,  mutilation,  moral 
virtue,  special  observance  and 
duty  of  any  particular  caste 
(e.  g.  the  tapas  of  a  Brahman  is 
sacred  learning;  of  a  Siistra, 
service;  of  a  Rishi  or  saint, 
feeding    on    herbs    and    roots), 

425 
Tauler,  451 

Taylor,  Bishop  Jeremy^  482 
Taylor,    E.    Douglas,    Essay    XV., 

323-49 
Taylor,  Hudson,  Life  of,  322 


526 


INDEX 


Telepathy,  analogy  from,  28,  32,  56- 
7,   100,   193.     See  also  Wireless 

Temple,  The,  a  Book  of  Prayers, 
481 

Temptation  by  the  serpent,  331-2 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  Lord,  41,  44,  88, 
159,  391,  491 

Teresa,   Santa,  232,  451-2,  457,  486 

Tertullian,  485,  488 

Testament  of  our  Lord,  476  bis 

Tevijja-Sutta,  Digha-Nikdya,  435 

Texts,  Index  of,  611-13 

Thanksgiving,  26,  467 

Thanksgiving  Day,  208 

Theism  and  the  Christian  Faith, 
102  n. 

Theistic  service  books,  475,  481 

Theologia  Germanica,  451 

Theology,  Sentimental  and  Prac- 
tical, 486 

Theosophy,  7,  10,  11,  14,  20,  35-  365- 

79 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  451 
Thomas,  Bp.  of  Marga,  440 
Thomas,     St.     of     Aquinum.    See 

Aquinas 
Thompson,   Francis,  60,  491 
Thomson,  Miss  A.,  ix 
Thorold,  Algar,  486 
Thornton,  Henry,  M.  P.,  483 
Thought  a  vital  force,   142 
nature  the  thought  of  God,  244 
timeless    and    instantaneous,    244, 

339 
our  weapon  and  shield,  339-40 
the  basis  of  personality,  405-6 
a    high    tension    electric    current, 

409 
how    dealt    with    in    temptation, 

443-4 

Thoughts  during  Prayer,  438  n. 

Thoughts  on  Personal  Religion,  602 

Thoughts  on  Prayer,  484 

Through  Five  Republics,  235  n. 

Thy  will  be  done,  244  sqq.  See  also 
Not  my  will 

Tileston,  M.  W.,  482 

Times  of  prayer,  34 

Todas,  The,  225  n. 

Toleration,  229,  239 

Tolstoi,  Count  Leo,  quoted,  43 

Tongue  should  be  expiator  not  of- 
fender, 137 

Tours,  440 

Tracts  (Calvin),  486 

Tramps  in  Dark  Mongolia,  231 

Transcendence,  Divine,  18,  163,  186, 
270 

Translations  from  the  Psalms,  491 


Trappists,  207 

Treasury  of  the  Scottish  Covenant, 

487 
Tree  of  Life,  330-1 
Trench,  Archbishop  R.  C,  491 
Trinity,  the,  217,  341-2 
Trust,  26.    See  also  Faith 
Tshi-spcaking     peoples      of     Gold 

Coast,  224  n. 
Tunzelmann,  G.  W.,  238  n. 
Turner,     Arthur     C,     109,     111-12, 

237  n.,  484 
Tzuo  Friends,  487 

Tyndall,   Prof.  John,  84.   102,  484-5 
Types  of  prayer,  462 
Tyrrell,  George,  51 
Tepas,   175 

Unanswered  prayer,  34-5 
reasons  why  answer  withheld,  35 
we  may  have  blocked  the  answer 

by  previous  conduct,  35 
and  this  even  in  a  former  life,  35 
may   be    due   to   insufficient    self- 
renunciation,     89-94,     109     sq., 
155-6,     283-4,     289-90,     319-20, 

372-3 
See  also  Experience 
Unclassified     Essays,     Tables     IIL, 

IV.,      VII.,      VIII.    See     also 

Anonymous 
LInction,  extreme,  215 
Undenominational   writers,   10,   11 
Underbill,  Evelyn,  482,  491 
Uniformity  of  nature,  28.    See  also 

Law 
Union,  451 

Unitarian  prayers,  475,  481 
United    Free    Church    of    Scotland 

services,  475,  480 
Universal  Prayer,  The,  491 
University  and  Cathedral  Sermons, 

(Illingworth),  489 
University     and      other     Sertnons, 

(Creighton),  489 
Unrealized  Logic  of  Religion,  137 
United  States  of  America,  4,  9,  10, 

II,  12,  13,  14,  208,  457-8,  479 
Episcopal  Church  in,  479 
Presbyterian  services,  475,  480 
Upanishads,     425     sqq.    See     also 

Chandogya 
Utilitarian  morality,  392 

Vailima,  Prayers  written  at,  483 
Varieties   of  Religious   Experience, 

quoted,  43,  59,  77,  96 
Vaux,  J.  E.,  484 
Vedas,  129 


INDEX 


527 


Veuillot,  177 

Victorian   blunders,   134,   135 

Victory,  prayer  for,  difficult  if  both 

sides  pray  to  same  God,  104-5 
Virgil,  170 

Visions  of  God,  440-2,  462-3 
Vital  Religion,  489 
Vocal  prayer,  427.    Sec  also  Words 
Vocations  of  writers  of  Essays,  3,  S 

religious,  191 
Voices  of  Freedom  and  Studies  in 

Philosophy  of  Indiznduality,  490 
Voltaire,  150 
Voysey,  C,  481,  483 
Vulture,  R.,  481 

Wake,  S.,  227  n. 

Wako,  =  permeating  life  of  visible 
nature,  227 

Wales,  4,  9,  10,  12,  174,  440 

Walker,   George,  of  Kinnell,  ix-xi, 
483 

Walker  of  Tinnevelly,  318 

Walker  Trust,  v,  ix-xi 
David  Russell  of  the,  Editor,  and 

Essay  XXI.,  458-71 
value  of  the  essays,  461 
their  common  feature,  461 
widespread  response,  461 
inestimable  value  of  prayer,  461 
prayer  as  illumination,  462 
temporal  and  eternal,  462 

Walpole,  Bp.  G.  H.  S.,  489 

War   and   prayer,    fresh   poignancy, 
41,  44.  146-8.  238-40,  288-9,  295, 
320,  339,  347-8,  407-8 
and    the    sacredness    of    nations, 

66-7 
an  evil,  68 

yet  a  coming  of  the  Lord,  68-9 
a  great  revealer,  127 

Warrack,    Grace,   486 

Warren,  F.  E.,  477,  478 

Water  of  life,  335 

Watson,  Dr.   Chas.,  483 

Watt,  L.  Maclean,  482 

Way  of  Prayer,  488 

Wax  to  Christ,  490 

Weils,  Dr.  James,  488 

Wesley,  Charles,  491 

Wesley,  John,  214 

Westcott,   Bishop   B.   F,,  489 

Western  Church  Liturgies,  475,  477- 
80 

Whinfield,  229 

Whyte,  Dr.  Alexander,  482,  483,  487 

Widow,  the  importunate,  275 

Wiegand,    160 

Wilberforce,  Archdeacon  Basil,  488 


Wilberforce.  Archdeacon  Basil,  his 

Ideals  and  Teaching,  488 
Wilde,   Oscar,   491 
Will,  Divine,  28,  29,  116-17,  375,  387 
want  of  harmony  with,  a  cause  of 
unanswered     prayer,     35,     375. 
See  also  Not  my  will 
Will,   human,   not   a   vera   causa    in 
material  phenomena,  and  v.  v., 
29 
and  knowledge  of  doctrine,  267 
the    first    manifestation    of    mind, 

327 
the  power  of  initiative,  327 
-power.  336,  413,  427 
Wilson,  Bp.  Thomas,  482,  487 
Wilson,  Canon  J.  M.,  489 
Wilson,  Dr.  J.  H.,  488 
Wilson,  H.  A.,  477 
Winchester     College,     Manual     of 

Prayers    for    the    use    of    the 

Scholars  at,  483 
Wintcrnitz,  M.,  481 
Wireless  telegraphy  and  telephony, 

252.     274-5,     343  n.    See     also 

Telepathy 
Wiseman,    Nicholas    Cardinal,   489 
With   Christ   in  School   of  Prayer, 

322,  488 
Women  writers,  5,  6,  9 
Wood,  Michael,  487 
Woods,  C.  E.,  488 
Worcester,  Ellwood,  491 
Word,  the,  an  emanation  from  God, 

353 
Words  and  prayer,  76,  184,  339,  349, 

357.  386 
and   thought,   248,   360,   464.    See 

also  Vocal  prayer 
Wordsworth,  Bp.  John,  477 
Wordsworth,   William,  491 
Work    and    prayer     (including    la- 

borare  est  01  are),  49,  50,  74-S, 

131,   154,  317-18 

reversed    orare    est    lahorare,  92, 
95,  10 1,  35&-9,  393-5 
Working  Faith   of   the   Social  Re- 
former, 114 
World,  prayer  for  the,  68  sqq. 

as  environment,  1 12-15 

a  realm  of  law,  112 

and   progress,    150 

cannot  satisfy,  390 

a  false  view  of  heaven,  material, 
408-09 

different  views  of  material,  409- 
II 

cease  thinking  of  material,  415 

end  of,  421 


528 


INDEX 


.»' 


World-builders  all,  487 
Worlledge,  Chancellor  Arthur  John, 

484 
Worship,    result   of    contagiousness 
of  emotion,   103 
and  culture,  398-9 
Wotherspoon,   Dr.   H.   J.,  489 
Wrestling  with  the  Angel,  491 
Wright,  Dr.  C.  H.  H.,  489 
Wurtz,  Adolphe,   160 


Yacna,  227 
Yangtse  river,  269 
Yangtse  valley  riots,  271  n. 
Yang  H'siung,  272 
Yoga,  425  sqq. 
Yoga  sir  as,  429 


Zenker,  E.  V.,  238  n. 
Zoroaster,  228,  231 


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